Assignment: Reel revolution? The dramatic rise of Saudiwood

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

Saudi Arabia is rolling out the red carpet to filmmakers and foreign companies as it sets out to establish itself as a major player in the entertainment industry. After lifting a 35-year ban on cinemas in 2018, the Kingdom is now luring Hollywood with cash incentives to shoot in the desert, and playing host to a glitzy international film festival. The move is all part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's ‘Vision 2030’ - a grand blueprint to rewrite the Kingdom's script, diversify its economy away from oil, and expand its cultural influence though films, gaming and sport, all at the same time seeking to keep an overwhelming young population happy. It is a dramatic transformation with writers, directors and actors now prepared to test boundaries and break taboos on screen. But as Emily Wither finds out Saudi Arabia is still a country where not every story can be told.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for choosing to listen to Assignment on the documentary podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:05.9	I first went to Saudi Arabia in 2014 and have returned over the years,
0:10.8	charting the rapid pace of change in the country.
0:13.8	I recently attended the Kingdom's International Film Festival in Jeddah,
0:18.2	a glamorous event that showcases how much importance the state is
0:23.4	putting on the growth of the entertainment industry. On this visit, I noticed that while many
0:29.1	Saudis are revelling in newly found freedoms, many people are more hesitant than ever to speak freely,
0:36.4	and that away from the glitzy ceremonies,
0:39.3	not everything is quite as it seems.
0:47.1	I'm on an enormous red carpet.
0:49.8	Actresses are walking down in beautiful, sometimes revealing gowns.
0:55.0	There are actors from all over the world, film directors, many household names.
1:00.0	And they're all heading into the main hall where they'll watch the film festival's opening movie together.
1:12.2	We could be at any glamorous spot in the world right now, any film festival, but we are
1:17.4	in Saudi Arabia and this scene would have been unthinkable even six years ago in a country
1:25.0	where cinema was once illegal.
1:28.9	It's a warm winter's evening in the city of Jeddah, the gateway for pilgrims traveling to Mecca.
1:35.3	Tonight, Saudi Arabia's ambitions to attract attention to their very own Saudi wood are on full display.
1:44.4	Ladies and gentlemen, the one and the only, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.
1:53.4	Unlike most other international film events, the Red Sea Film Festival has lured major stars
1:59.4	to the kingdom by reportedly writing million-dollar
2:02.5	checks. Many of the industry's off-screen attendees have told me they're being paid to be here too.
	...

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