The 9th edition of the Saudi Film Festival starts today, Thursday, May 4th, and continues until the 11th of the same month. It is organized by the Cinema Association in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), and supported by the Film Commission at the Ministry of Culture.

This year's edition comes under the theme of "Comedy", as the audience anticipates the screening of 78 films, within 48 screening groups, and 4 groups for children. For the first time in the festival, eight films will be available to watch via virtual reality devices designed to create a different cinematic experience.

Noura Al-Zamel, Director of Programs at Ithra Center, explained that this year's Saudi Film Festival comes as a complement to Ithra's role in enhancing the film industry and supporting its fields, and the keenness to develop national talents in line with the Kingdom's efforts and directions in creating a prestigious position for cinema in the fields of acting, directing, screenwriting and everything related to filmmaking. The festival includes a bundle of diverse cultural programs, emphasizing that the Kingdom is living a very active and promising state in the cinematic movement.

For his part, Ahmed Al-Mulla, director of the festival, pointed out that the extended partnership between the Cinema Association and the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), which began since the second edition in 2015, is only part of the role represented by both sides in empowering filmmakers and cinematic talents and providing all forms of support to them, praising the role of the Film Commission in continuous support out of its keenness on the efforts of Saudi filmmakers.

According to Al-Mulla, the festival chose a basic axis in its ninth edition, which is comedy cinema, where it sheds light on a current that aroused wonder and laughter, with aesthetic symbolism and meaningful connotations.

This edition includes film and screenplay competitions with the development of their structure and awards, as well as expanding the scope of film screening programs to include selected films at the global and Arab levels.

The festival continues to provide a distinguished package of cultural and enrichment programs that include seminars and advanced training workshops, in addition to providing a platform for production companies, producers and filmmakers to enable their projects through the production market. The festival also issues and translates a group of books to continue the festival's journey in enriching the Arabic library in the field of filmmaking and cinema knowledge.

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