Cannes 2023 Kicks Off With Saudi Part-Funded Johnny Depp Drama, Jeanne Du Barry
The 76th edition of the highly esteemed Cannes Film Festival kicked off yesterday with the premiere of the period drama “Jeanne Du Barry” starring Johnny Depp, all about French king Louis XV’s shocking affair with a courtesan. With the film being part-funded by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund, it places the Kingdom in the limelight as a continued key player in the film industry.
Today, the Arab film industry goes beyond Arab filmmakers and film productions as now there is a bigger focus towards investing and funding international films. Other than Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi managed to make a name for itself as an international production hub that took on large-scale film productions including Star Wars, Mission Impossible, and Baby. Saudi Arabia is beginning to follow in tow and it’s doing so in rapid fashion, especially by being part of a major international film starring Johnny Depp that is premiering in Cannes.
Beyond Jeanne Du Barry, five other films backed by the Red Sea Film Fund have earned a prominent place in the festival including the first-ever Sudanese film to take part in Cannes, Goodbye Julia.
Mohammed Al Turki, the renowned film producer and CEO of the Red Sea International Film Festival, expressed excitement towards the diversity of the Red Sea Funded films taking part in Cannes this year, “their diversity – there is such a spectrum of creators, some starting out – others veterans of the art, all beautiful projects which are being given an audience in the most prestigious festival of all.”
With such a huge dip into the world of cinema, the Saudi Arabian film industry looks to be making bigger leaps in the future.
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