Saudi Arabia Wants to Be A Movie Capital. Will Hollywood Go Along? - Bloomberg
Is Saudi Arabia the next China for Hollywood?
In early December, dozens of global celebrities descended upon Jeddah, a city of more than 4 million people on the Western coast of Saudi Arabia. Jeddah has long served as a gateway to the holy city of Mecca, as well as a port of entry for foreign travelers coming to Saudi Arabia. For 10 days last year, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city attempted to transform itself into a cultural hub akin to Cannes or Sundance by hosting the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The attendee list for the second edition of the event includes many members of the Hollywood A-list in 1995. Oliver Stone served as the president of the jury, while Spike Lee, Antonio Banderas and Andy Garcia sat down for conversations about cinema. There were plenty of contemporary stars in attendance as well, including Henry Golding, Joel Kinnaman and Michelle Rodriguez. Bruno Mars performed on opening night.
Saudi Arabia, awash in oil money, is eager to extend its influence on the world stage by investing in pop culture. It has already spent billions of dollars to stand up a new golf league, invested billions more into video-game publishers and is now turning its attention to Hollywood.
The presence of famous people on Saudi soil at a film festival lends credibility to those efforts — even if the organizers didn’t get all the biggest stars to show up. The country is also offering generous incentives to filmmakers and studios if they shoot there and these incentives have already enticed a couple of productions, including a film starring Anthony Mackie.
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