Ahead of the fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival, Cineuropa sat down with Fionnuala Halligan, who took over as director of international film programming at the Saudi event earlier this year. The former chief film critic for British outlet Screen International and currently a programmer at the Macau International Film Festival, Halligan breaks down this year’s selection process and how she works with Saudi audiences. The Red Sea International Film Festival will unspool from 4-13 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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Cineuropa: The film critic and film programmer roles are very closely aligned: ultimately, we all promote the kind of cinema that we feel closest to. Do you agree, and if so, what kind of cinema would you like to champion?
Fionnuala Halligan: I agree with that to a certain extent. As a critic, I always felt my role was to communicate cinema: to bridge the gap between the filmmaker and the audience. Programmers do something similar, but through curation rather than interpretation. As a critic, you present and interpret the film for readers; as a programmer, you express your view through how you position the film within a programme. Both roles require the desire to communicate and to connect the audience with the work. Here in Saudi Arabia, the context is very unique. Cinemas only opened in 2018, which doesn’t mean people didn’t watch films before then — they did, just not on the big screen. They’re not yet accustomed to arthouse cinema or the festival experience, but they’re responding to it warmly. It’s exciting to introduce a wide spectrum of films: film jewels, more unusual or confrontational films, films for families, and titles from across the arthouse spectrum. So, rather than championing a specific kind of cinema, I want to show Saudi audiences that there are films for them within the festival space; that it’s a celebration of cinema, a place to encounter artists, and dialogue. With that in mind, I’d say I want to champion women’s films. I’m working for and with a lot of women, and in a country that’s opening up to women, with a whole new class of young people who are excited about that shift, and the opportunities and cultural dialogue it brings.

Commenting on the international competition selection, you spoke about a common theme among the films in this year’s programme: that of “being lost and found”. How early in the selection process did you pick up on it?
It emerged gradually, in the same way you start to notice patterns while you’re watching films as a journalist. Working with films from Africa and Asia, which are the festival’s core regions, you inevitably encounter certain recurring themes, and migration is a dominant one. It stays in your mind, and then you realise that the films you’re responding to — Sirāt [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Lost Land [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Two Seasons, Two Strangers — all reflect characters that feel adrift, though not always literally on a boat. I realised this theme was running through this year’s festival in almost every way. Whether or not films are directly showing the circumstances that we’re living in, they almost always reflect the world we live in. And this year, it became clear to me that many stories are about people finding their place or those who never manage to.

Given what you’ve said about cinema, its role and the Saudi audience, what do you think European arthouse cinema – which doesn’t have a strong presence this year – can contribute, in terms of its sensitivity and perspective, to global film conversations?
It’s a big question, and it helps to clarify the context first. In the international competition, we select 16 films, all of which have to come from Asia or Africa — that’s the festival’s USP. The same partly applies to sections like Festival Favourites, which is why the festival has a stronger Asian presence and fewer strictly European titles than a Western festival might. European films can appear in International Spectacular, Festival Favourites, or - in the case of more confrontational, challenging titles - in New Visions. That’s where we’re screening In-I: In Motion by Juliette Binoche. I ended up programming more English films than I expected, simply because they felt like the right fit for those slots. As a journalist, I didn’t really understand the huge thought-process behind the programming of each and every film. There are multiple reasons why you're showing each of them. For example, our opening film, Giant, is British, but it tells the story of “Prince” Naseem Hamed who was a boy of Yemeni origin living through Islamophobia who went on to inspire a generation. Every film [you programme] makes you feel that it’s part of the conversation. European cinema has that in terms of emotions, and of concept, but also because of the many co-productions in the region. I think our common ground is mostly in the co-production arena, where European filmmakers address global themes. We’re seeing this in the Red Sea Souk as well: more European producers are coming here, wanting to do just that.  There are many reasons behind whether or not films are programmed. I opted for Late Shift [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] very early on in the programming process, because I thought it was the kind of exciting, pacey film that would bring an audience in. Of course, there are films you want but can’t get, and films you're offered but can’t programme. We’re very competitive, as you know, within the MENA region. There were films I lost along the way to other festivals — we’re competitive, but friendly-competitive. So yes, I think there’s a lot to talk about with European filmmakers. I also hope that when they come, they remain open to attending the Souk, because there’s so much to gain here. For example, Mike Goodridge is on the programming team with me — he’s UK-based but a major European co-producer. He’s here as an advisor to me, but also because he’s genuinely interested in working internationally in this part of the world. There are so many stories to be shared.