Director Ali Saeed Stories the History of Saudi Film in 'Anti-Cinema'

The decades between the cinema ban in 1979 and its eventual lifting in 2018 did not mean the film industry in Saudi Arabia simply disappeared. There is an erased history of filmmakers who resisted the ban, attempted to organize festivals, and hosted screenings through narrow loopholes. This hidden history is now being told through the lens of journalist, screenwriter, and director Ali Saeed in his documentary, Anti-Cinema.

Saeed begins his narrative on deeply personal foundations - his own favourite films, alongside his experience growing up at a time where film existed, but cinemas did not. The documentary opens with two resonant lines: “Between what is said and what is not said, the story is born. The film is born between what is seen and what is not seen.”

“This is a film that tells the story of a generation that grew up loving films but didn’t have anywhere to watch them,” Saeed tells SceneNowSaudi. “The lovers of film underwent struggle and strife, but in the end, the will to live wins, and their dreams come true.”

Anchoring the story in his own experiences with a bulky computer, a sluggish internet connection, and a DVD player, Saeed traces his memories of film back to hidden home cinemas, smuggled film reels, and the first-ever known Saudi film from 1950. Over five years of tumultuous research, Saeed leveraged his background in journalism to navigate this sidelined history, incorporating a series of interviews with filmmakers who fought for the return of cinemas, film lovers who witnessed their fall, and those behind early Saudi films whose only home was YouTube or their makers’ flash drives. To structure the documentary, Saeed used dated news headlines to place the events in order.

“Anti-Cinema invites viewers to embark on a pleasure-filled search journey to explore a country and people that love film, like them and like the rest of the world,” Saeed explains. “It tells the entire world that we have always had a love for cinema, for art, and for culture.” Fittingly, Anti-Cinema was the sole Saudi film at the 2025 Cairo International Film Festival. It serves as a rich resource into a history of Saudi cinema unmarred by the colonial impression that the Kingdom only discovered the medium seven years ago, ensuring it will be referenced for years to come.

“A feature film is directed by its director, but a documentary film is directed by God,” Saeed reflects on the nature of the medium. “You don’t get to control people, or what they say. It’s only the facts.”

Saeed’s love for film has been a constant throughout his life, even when he wasn't fully conscious of it. After the ban was lifted, he explored both feature and documentary filmmaking, making Anti-Cinema—a film about this very passion—his sixth. “I went into making this film as someone,” he tells us, “and emerged someone else entirely.”