The British Council will host an online event next week (Wednesday, Nov. 25) for young aspiring filmmakers in Saudi Arabia. The event — Through the Eyes of Filmmakers — will be led by Paul Pauwels, former Director of the European Documentary Network, and he will be joined by a panel of local filmmakers. The panel includes — Moayad Abualkhair, a documentary producer working on his first feature film; Abdulrahman Khawj, a screenwriter, director and producer who runs the production company, Cinepoetics Pictures, Mansour Albadran, a director and producer, working in corporate film, and Modhi Alzamil, a director whose first short film Dissonance, explores cognitive dissonance through interviews with people of different ages and backgrounds. The panel, who all previously attended the renowned UK film festival — Sheffield Doc/Fest through the British Council in 2019, will discuss how these kinds of international opportunities have helped develop their work, their experience as young film makers in Saudi Arabia and ways to pitch a new project. They will also chat about current opportunities both locally and internationally, along with a Q&A session. This event comes on the back of British Council's recent Saudi Film Skills research, which outlined the skills and capabilities needed to strengthen and grow the film sector in the future. While the report found that Saudi Arabia has the potential to have more films made by Saudis, in Saudi Arabia, it highlighted that skill shortages were viewed as a major issue, with a call for more training opportunities within Saudi Arabia. The research is part of a long-term plan by the British Council to support Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and bring UK expertise in the creative industries to young people through capacity building programs. Eilidh Kennedy McLean, director of the British Council Saudi Arabia, said: "We are delighted to deliver this webinar for aspiring Saudi filmmakers. It follows the launch of our Films Skills Research last month, which highlighted the need for further training and networking opportunities for young people in the sector. "We hope through events like this we will inspire the next generation of young Saudi filmmakers and develop an exciting, vibrant and commercially successful film sector." — SG
