Red Sea Film Festival Expands Project Market With 38 Selections

The Red Sea International Film Festival has announced 38 feature film and TV projects selected for the 2024 Red Sea Souk Project Market. In an effort to highlight global storytelling diversity, submissions for the festival have been extended to Asia for the first time - now accounting for 28% of entries - alongside contributions from Africa and the Arab world.

The selected projects span four categories, including 12 Red Sea Lodge projects, 12 Red Sea Souk works-in-progress, seven Red Sea SeriesLab projects, and seven under development. Submissions were evaluated by an international panel, with final selections made by a dedicated committee. Participating filmmakers will receive tailored pitch mentoring to prepare for meetings with investors and partners. Additionally, awards such as the Red Sea Souk and Red Sea Labs Awards will offer financial and developmental support for projects at various stages.

Returning filmmakers Asmae Al Moudir, Sofia Alaoui, and Halkawt Mustafa, whose previous works were showcased at the 2023 festival, are part of this year’s lineup. The Lodge Projects include debut and fiction films such as ‘Assa, A Fish in a Bowl’ by Dahlia Nemlich (Lebanon) and ‘Blue Card’ by Mohammed Alomda (Sudan, Egypt). Works-in-progress feature films include ‘A Winner is Seen at the Start’ by Zhannat Alshanova (France, Kazakhstan) and the animated ‘Allah is Not Obliged’ by Zaven Najjar (France, Luxembourg). Episodic storytelling is also spotlighted through SeriesLab Projects such as ‘Pazuzu’ by Ali Kareem and Dania Altayeb (Iraq, Saudi Arabia), and ‘Shani Bazaar’ by Karan Kabir & Nitin Koul (India).