KSA’s First Acting Institute Develops the Human Behind the Actor

In the youthful, vibrant city of Alkhobar, on the opposite side of the Kingdom from the yearly star-studded assemblies of the Red Sea International Film Festival, Scene Acting Institute has begun laying the missing foundations of Saudi’s burgeoning film industry. Students of this first-of-its-kind professional acting school in the Kingdom include well-known actors like Mila Alzahrani, Baraa Alem, and Nour Alkhadra, but the visionary behind Scene is director and screenwriter Mujtaba Saeed.

“When I ask myself what it is we’re offering, the answer is that it’s the very thing I myself was missing when I was younger,” says Saeed. “I left Saudi to study cinema in Germany because it was still not widely accepted here to pursue acting, and so the knowledge wasn’t widely available. We had to travel abroad to learn. I would go to Bahrain to attend workshops without telling my family, and learned a lot from participating in events in Egypt and the Gulf. Eventually I decided to move to Germany, where I studied and worked on documentary and feature films for 18 years. So the dream came from this, to create in our own country places that nurture us as artists and actors.”

While he was in Germany, Saeed stayed closely involved with Saudi Arabia’s developing arts scene, and frequently visited home. In 2022, he felt that it was time to move back for good. “I saw that the moment had finally arrived, that there was this development happening and the mood was optimistic.” 

What was still missing, however, were the fundamentals. “We just needed the roots. Countries like Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia have an academic foundation that has historically supported their film industries. Here, we see so many talents, but there has not been a real space for an actor to develop themselves professionally.” 

It was for this reason that Saeed founded Scene Acting Institute in April 2025. “I went to my friends Yacoub Al Farhan and Hussein Al Hajji and proposed the idea. It became a dream we all shared, and not just my own.” Yacoub Al Farhan, the prominent Saudi actor, joined as a co-founder alongside Hussein Al Hajji. “I still remember Yacoub’s smile when I told him about the dream and the vision,” says Saeed. “For us, acting is more than just a job.”

Other members of the team include Amélie Tambour, a friend of Saeed’s from his time in Germany, who serves as Scene’s academic advisor. Tambour runs Studio Tambour Berlin, and through Scene she’s brought a wealth of technical acting knowledge to Saudi Arabia.

“It wasn’t just some spontaneous thing,” says Saeed about the founding of Scene, “but a well-studied initiative. Our curriculums are very contemporary, and are not available anywhere else in the Arab world. The projects that existed before Scene were focused more on camera direction and cinematography rather than acting. But we see that the fundamental thing is the actor, which really means the person—the human.”

Since its founding, Scene has held more than 16 workshops and training programmes in Arabic and English. The actors that come to Scene for training range from well-established names with many films in their portfolio, to those with little experience but lots of interest. For both, Scene offers comprehensive curriculums and workshops on techniques such as the Meisner Method and Stanislavski's Method, kinetic drama, and how an actor should approach a new script to better understand their character. Recognizing that art is a dialogue between the artist and society, Scene also hosts workshops that are aimed not at actors but at the wider community. 

“The things that make an actor are useful not just for actors, but for all of society. Many of the elements, like building self-confidence, presence, and being able to react and adapt, are beneficial to develop in any person,” explains Saeed. “One of our workshops was titled, ‘Tell Me What You Saw,’ and it was a workshop for children to learn how to interpret a scene and develop their analytical skills.”

Another component of the institute is Studio Scene, which operates semi-independently and is designed as a live lab to support professional actors through cinema and theatre projects. Actors who enrol in Studio Scene first go through a casting call, gaining insight into how to better market themselves and their work, and those who are selected go on to work in real-life productions. In this way, Studio Scene connects the industry to talented actors in the region.

“What do actors typically need for a casting? They need five or six things, like a professional video. Most actors in Saudi don’t have that. With experts, we help them make this video, we take professional headshots of them, and we help them write about their experience in a way that casting directors are looking for.”

Scene’s holistic and human-centric approach to actor development stems from Saeed’s belief that Saudi is on the cusp of a new era in its arts industries. “The actor is a mirror between society and itself. Our curriculum gives the actor the ability to understand both themselves and the world around them. It’s very important for universities and acting institutes to plant these foundations, and at the same time change the perception of society and show that art is not just an accessory but a necessity.”

Eventually, Scene is planning to have a base in the capital, Riyadh, where several of their last workshops were held before a large audience. “We want to go to Saudi’s cities and villages and teach. There are so many talents in the Kingdom, and we’re making sure to support them wherever they are.”