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For the first time ever, the Saudi Film Commission brings a selection of contemporary Saudi cinema to South African shores in partnership with the Joburg Film Festival (JFF). The film nights are a global venture with footprints in Australia, China, India and Mexico, and have only been on African soil once during the 2024 screenings in Morocco.
Screening across three cities, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, Mzansi audiences are invited to indulge from 8 to 14 October.
The Johannesburg edition of the film nights opens with the films Night Courier and Irtizaz at the Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein on Thursday 8 October, with both screenings also taking place on Friday 9 October.
South African audiences will very likely find struggling delivery driver Fahad's story in Night Courier relatable, as the dark comedy is a human story about a mentally ill son whose desperation to save his ailing father steers him down a criminal path in an attempt to cover his dad’s medical expenses.
Irtizaz is a satirical exploration of societal demands on divorced women who sometimes find themselves being forced into unspoken social competitions and campaigns for new husbands.
There are four films in total for this inaugural edition, each with its own storyline, plot and point of view.
JFF festival manager Taryn Joffe said the festival was committed to bringing distinctive international cinema into conversation with South African audiences and filmmakers.
“We are honoured to collaborate with the Saudi Film Commission on its first South African presentation and to deepen creative relationships between our film communities,” she added.
The film nights also present an opportunity for Saudi and South African filmmakers, audiences and industry communities to share their respective filmmaking cultures with each other.
Saudi filmmakers and actors will be in attendance across the three SA cities, and hopefully these interactions will give birth to future collaborations between the two countries.
Both countries have increasingly been becoming intentional about expanding their global footprint in the film industry, which indicates that common threads may already exist.
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