The film "Ferrari" to close Red Sea International Film Festival

The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea IFF), announcing that this year’s Closing Night Gala will be "Ferrari", the new biopic from Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley and Patrick Dempsey. With a screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin, Ferrari has been adapted from the 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine by motorsport journalist Brock Yates, and plays in the Red Sea IFF as a MENA Premiere on Thursday 7 December.

The International showcases some of the most highly anticipated and talked about films of the year, screened for the first time in the Arab world, and brings together further firsts of new cinema highlights include Sofia Coppola’s critically acclaimed biopic "Priscilla", Ava Duvernay’s powerful drama "Origin" based on non-fiction bestseller "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents", screening with Yann Mounir Demange’s poetic exploration of identity "Dammi" with Riz Ahmed in the lead role of this short.

Mohammed Al-Turki, CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation said: “It is a great honor to announce that our Closing Night Gala will be one of this year’s most anticipated films, 'Ferrari' by legendary director Michael Mann. This exhilarating film has been close to the Festival’s heart, as it has been supported by our Red Sea International Film Financing; a vehicle for us to champion acclaimed storytellers and create the opportunity for cultural exchange. Michael Mann’s powerful film shows true craftsmanship and empathy for the ambitious genius behind one of the world’s most desired works of design.”

Kaleem Aftab, Director of International Programming for the Red Sea International Film Festival, says: “'Ferrari' is Michael Mann in overdrive. It's a story about passion, love, and business where the cars are as beautiful as the film – which we loved from the moment we first saw it! This visually rich film serves as an exhilarating close to both this year’s Festival and the International Strand, for which we have gathered up the most exciting, groundbreaking and moving features from this year’s festival circuit to bring to audiences at the Red Sea in Jeddah, where these titles will celebrate their MENA premieres. We are honored to have the work of so many iconic filmmakers, giving us new perspectives on race, belonging, identity and family.”

RED SEA: NEW VISION
Red Sea IFF has now announced the Red Sea: New Vision strand, bringing to the Festival a unique selection of creative direction from Arab and world cinema. Exciting new voices from the small screen are also represented with four new international television shows to preview in Red Sea: Series. The festival will also showcase a selection of films with Families and Children in mind, to excite the filmmakers and audiences of tomorrow.

The Red Sea: New Vision strand will bring six new films to Festival screens. The World Premiere of Iraq’s "Invisible Beauty", by Jurgen Buedts and Sahim Omar Kalifa is a moving portrait of Iraqi photographer Latif Al Ani, a significant documentarian, will feature alongside Garry Keane and Stephen Gerard Kelly’s Irish foreign language Oscar entry, "In The Shadow Of Beirut" – a cinematic odyssey that takes viewers into one of the toughest slums in the world. In Muhannad Lamin’s documentary "Donga" the titular filmmaker is deeply affected by his filming of the end of Colonel Gaddafi’s reign in Libya in this MENA Premiere, while in Abdelhai Laraki’s Fez Summer '55 imagines the lead-up to Moroccan independence through the eyes of an 11-year-old Kamal. Liana & Renaud’s "The Sea and Its Waves" screens as a MENA Premiere with its poetic tribute to Beirut, and Thien An Pham’s existential "Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell" won the Camera d’Or for Best First Film at Cannes earlier this year.

Antoine Khalife, Director of Arab Programs & Film Classics for the Red Sea International Film Festival, said: “We hold a special attachment to the Red Sea: New Vision section. These are our cinematic favorites—films with a different, creative, original, and, above all, unique cinematographic language. Filmmakers delve into strong themes, whether it's the quest for a new country, the lost beauty of a country, the struggle of women for an independent and robust country, or the revolution in a country led by its young citizens for a brighter future. This rich cinematographic language contributes significantly to making Arab cinema more vibrant and uniquely compelling.”

With Red Sea: Series we turn to the smaller screen and preview four new television shows: the World Premiere of "Ashfaq Carim" and Gokhan Deniz’s docu-series "South Africa Eats", exploring the many cuisines embraced by the Rainbow nation, Nima Javidi’s "The Actor", plus Ghazaleh Golbakhsh’s "Miles From Nowhere", screening in a World Premiere, as well as Lee Jung-Gon’s "The Deal", a sensational Korean thriller about a kidnapping that goes awry.

Seeking to engage and spark the imaginations of younger audiences is an investment in the future of cinemagoers and in the Families and Children strand the Red Sea IFF will do so with five new films: the World Premiere of Damien Hauser’s inspiring Kenya-set fable "After the Long Rains" (Baada Ya Masika), the Arab premiere of Cynthia Sharaihay’s "Saleem", Mohammad Hamzei’s heartfelt drama "Captain", Benoît Chieux’s tale of two sisters who turn into cats in "Sirocco Et Le Royaume Des Courants D'air", and with Farzad and Kianoush Dalvand’s animated "Three Little Kungpoo Goats", when the titular, cloven-hoofed martial arts experts rise up against a hungry wolf.