Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival kicked off its fourth edition with a starry opening ceremony on Thursday evening as it returned to the historic Al-Balad neighborhood of its home port city of Jeddah.

Among the stars hitting the red carpet were Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones as well as Spike Lee, who is the jury president this year, Eva Longoria, Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Erivo, Will Smith, Michelle Rodriguez and career honorees Vin Diesel, Emily Blunt and Aamir Khan.

As he received his career award, Diesel commented on the star wattage in the room: “There might be more familiar faces than some of the awards shows back in America. Am I crazy to say that? There are just so many great people here.”

Singling out Lee, The Fast & Furious star revealed how he had worked as an extra on the director’s movies in the 1980s. “When I saw Spike, I would try to run because if anyone sees you as an extra, you’ll always be an extra. I was doing extra work on his movies and hiding,” he recalled.

“I never knew that,” Lee shouted up from the floor.

Lee noted in his speech that this was his third time in Saudi Arabia, having previously attended the festival in 2022 and also shot part of his 1992 Oscar-nominated film Malcolm X in Mecca.

He described being asked to be jury president as one of those blessings that come out of nowhere.

“This definitely goes in that category. When I got the call that [they] wanted me to be president of the jury, it didn’t take me too long to answer, I said, ‘Hell yeah’,” he recounted.

The return to Al-Balad marks a milestone for the festival with its parent body opening permanent headquarters in the neighbourhood.

The festival has taken place in Jeddah’s chateau like Ritz Carlton hotel over the past two years, but most guests were happy to be back in Al-Balad, which hosted the event in its inaugural year, and has been considerably spruced up since.