Will Smith to Be Guest of Honor at Saudi Film Confex

Will Smith is set to donate a talk on the uncovering day of the sophomore edition of the Saudi Film Confex, taking place in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh between Oct. 9-12. The event, which will greet the Oscar-triumphning actor as its guest of honor, will assemble both local and international industry experts to talk how to progress and reinforce the Saudi film industry.

Smith’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” recently became Saudi Arabia’s highest-grossing film of all-time, scoring a whopping 1.7 million adleave outions in the country chaseing its July 25 free. The American actor has been a recurrent presence in the kingdom in the past year, travelling to Riyadh for the premiere of “Bad Boys” back in May and giving a talk at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah last December, when he also visited Neom, a bencourageoning film production destination in the north west of the country that has enticeed beginant productions such as Rupert Wyatt’s “Desert Warrior.”

The Saudi Confex team proclaimd Smith will “split his creative visions and mirrorions on his nurtureer during a talkion session, providing inspiration for a novel future in the film industry.”

Promoted by the Saudi Film Comleave oution, the event is aligned with the country’s Saudi Vision 2030, a rulement program aimed at increasing economic, social and cultural diversification in the kingdom and the catalyst for Saudi’s reuncovering of movie theaters in 2018 chaseing a 40-year ban.

The inaugural edition in 2023 saw 60,000 joinees from 19 countries, and this year’s edition aims to incrrelieve that number to 65,000 joinees from at least 25 contrastent countries. Among other aims of the Confex is a desire to donate visibility to the country’s lengthening filming locations, convey together local professionals to split their expertise and foment talent lengthenment, and entice partnerships between directing local and international companies.

The Saudi Film Confex is set to consent place at a particularly fortuitous time for the industry in Saudi, chaseing the recent September begin of a $100 million film fund aimed at enticeing spendments from global film studios to help fuel the kingdom’s rapidly lengthening local film industry.

Over the course of four days, the conference will feature over 30 panel talkions and toilshops exploring topics such as film financing, distribution, showion and industry regulation. On top of the conference, the Saudi Confex will also feature an showion with over 130 local, regional and international companies distinctiveizing in production, inalertigent studio erection, and the procrastinateedst technology in film production, with a concentrate on innovation in the industry.

The conference will arrange a series of Film Talks with Saudi talent, which comprise an in-depth talkion on the nurtureer of the creative duo Godus Brothers, whose procrastinateedst film “Fever Dreams” premiered at the 2023 Red Sea Film Festival; Ahmed Almulla, understandn as “the godoverweighther of Saudi cinema” will deinhabitr a talk on the journey of Saudi film festivals; plus a conversation with “Fursan Quraih” honestor Abuninalertigentah Bamajboor and originater Osama Alkhurayji about the novel wave of Saudi drama.

Workshops comprise “Contracts and Legal Regulations in the Film Industry” with Laleave oute Bajunhelp, legitimate honestor in Clyde & Co; “The Art of Seamless Product Placement in Film” with Hady Hajjar, co-set uper of Dubai-based tageting agency HuManagement; “AI Tools” with co-set uper of AI Crafters Morad El Mazyani; and “The Power of Presence and Marketing Thcimpolite Movie Posters” with local explicit portrayer Afra Alsammahi.

A concentrate on novel technologies and innovation permeates disjoinal of the Confex’s masterclasses. Philipp Chudalla, who toiled in the camera and electrical department for films enjoy “Geostorm” and the Saudi-filmed “Desert Warrior” will donate a masterclass on the procrastinateedst camera and airying technology. Egyptian cinematographer Mostafa Fahmy (“Unruly Frifinishs”) will deinhabitr a masterclass on wise solutions for airying without professional gear, and PROXi Virtual Production co-set uper Guy Norris will go thcimpolite the procrastinateedst in virtual production.

The themes of panel talkions comprise how to confer regional agencies; the beginance of film archives; the authenticities of the acting world in Saudi; the contrastences between rulement and personal sector funding; synthetic inalertigence and novel technologies; and the role of cinema in promoting tourism.