Diane Kruger, Bollywood luminary Ranveer Singh, and Saudi actor-writer Abdullah Al-Sadhan are slated to be honored for their illustrious careers at the forthcoming Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, which has unveiled its complete jury lineup.
Heading the main Red Sea jury is Baz Luhrmann, accompanied by Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”), Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”), Egyptian actor Amina Khalil (“Grand Hotel”), and Spain’s Paz Vega (“Sex and Lucía,” “The OA”).
Simultaneously, Turkish-German director Fatih Akin, renowned for directing Kruger in “In The Fade,” will serve on the festival’s shorts competition jury alongside Saudi writer and film critic Hana Alomair, the creative force behind the Netflix Saudi Arabian original “Whispers,” and French-Moroccan actor Assad Bouab (“Call My Agent”).
The opening film for the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia will be “HWJN,” directed by Dubai-based Iraqi filmmaker Yasir Al-Yasiri.
Scheduled to commence on November 30 in Jeddah on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, the festival will feature “HWJN” by Yasir Al-Yasiri as its inaugural film. The event is slated to run until December 9.
Commenting on this year’s honorees, Mohammed Al-Turki, CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, expressed, “This year, we are paying tribute to Ranveer Singh, an icon of Hindi cinema; Diane Kruger, who has delivered an array of unforgettable characters from Helen of Troy to Tarantino’s Bridget von Hammersmark and captivated us with her powerhouse performance as the avenging Angel Katja in Fatih Akin’s ‘In the Fade’; as well as the immensely beloved Abdullah Al-Sadhan, a mainstay of Saudi entertainment for two decades through ‘Tash ma Tash,’ and will also feature in this year’s competition title ‘Norah.’ We are delighted to acknowledge each of their diverse and profound contributions to cinema and to have them join us for our third edition.”
