Red Sea International Film Festival Sets 2026 Dates in Jeddah

The Red Sea International Film Festival will return from December 3rd to 12th, 2026, taking place once again at its headquarters in Al-Balad.

The announcement follows the 2025 edition, which marked the festival’s fifth year and ran under the theme ‘For the Love of Cinema’, screening more than 100 films from Saudi Arabia, the Arab world, Asia and Africa.

Highlights from the Arab Spectacular programme included ‘Palestine 36’ by Annemarie Jacir, ‘Unidentified’ by Haifaa Al-Mansour, and ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ by Anas Ba-Tahaf, starring Sarah Taibah.

The International Spectacular section featured films such as ‘Couture’ starring Angelina Jolie, ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’, ‘Scarlet’, ‘Farruquito — A Flamenco Dynasty’, and ‘Desert Warrior’, which was filmed in Saudi Arabia.

Top honours at the 2025 edition went to ‘Lost Land’ by Akio Fujimoto, noted as the first feature film shot entirely in the Rohingya language.

Separately, the Red Sea Film Fund reported that three supported films have been selected for the Cannes Film Festival 2026. ‘Parallel Tales’ by Asghar Farhadi will compete in the official Competition section, while ‘Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep’ by Rakan Mayasi and ‘Benimana’ by Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo will screen in the Un Certain Regard category.