The Saudi Film Festival (SFF) announced it has opened the window for submissions for its 9th edition scheduled to be held at the Ithra Center, Dhahran, between May 4 and 11, 2023.
The event is organized by the Cinema Association in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) and the support of the Film Commission of the Ministry of Culture.
The deadline for submissions ends on March 8.
The forthcoming edition of SFF includes four competitions: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Script, and Best Unproduced Script. Films and scripts will compete for 26 prizes.
The Best Feature Film Competition offers eight awards: Golden Palm for Best Feature Film, Jury Award, Golden Palm for Best Actor, Golden Palm for Best Actress, Golden Palm for Best Sound Design, Golden Palm for Best Cinematography, Golden Palm for Best Executed Screenplay, and Golden Palm for the best montage.
The Awards for the short Films Competition include: Golden Palm for Best Short Film, Jury Award, Golden Palm for Best Actor, Golden Palm for Best Actress, Golden Palm for Best Cinematography, Golden Palm for Best Animation Film, and Abdullah Al Muhaisin Award for the first film.
The awards for Documentary Films Competition are: Golden Palm for Best Documentary Film, Jury Award, Unique Documentary Subject Award, and Jebel Tuwaiq Award for the best film about a Saudi city.
The Unproduced Script Competition Awards are: Best First Feature Film script, Best Second Feature Film script, Best Third Feature Film script, Best First Short Film script, Best Second Short Film script, and Ghazi Al-Gosaibi Award for Best script based on a Saudi Novel. The festival also welcomes Gulf filmmakers to apply for selection within the festival's programs and to compete for the Gulf Film Award.
SFF is seen as the premier film festival in Saudi Arabia since its launch in 2008. It has led to interest in filmmaking in the Kingdom, encouraging innovators and developing the industry, while creating a competitive environment among the filmmakers.
The festival also announced that filmmakers can apply for the 3rd edition of the production market program to compete for six grants introduced by the festival, in addition to other grants offered by the companies in the market.
The Production Market Grants include: Development grant for a feature film, production grant for a feature film, post-production grant for a feature film, development grant for a short film, production grant for a short film, and post-production grant for a short film.
The festival will also include other activities such as workshops, seminars and book releases, and will host figures from cinema from around the world. The details are set to be announced soon in a press event.
