RIYADH — The commercial records issued for film production activity in Saudi Arabia recorded a growth of 39% during the first quarter of 2023, the Ministry of Commerce revealed. The Ministry revealed this growth during its business sector report for the first quarter of 2023. It has stated that the Q1 of 2023 witnessed an increase in commercial records for the film production. The report added, it reached 113 commercial records in the cinema sector, compared to the Q1 of 2022, when the number of existing records of film production reached 81 commercial records. The report said that the total existing commercial records for film production reached 1,510 commercial records by the end of 2022. As for the cities of Saudi Arabia that topped the list of the top five regions in issuing commercial records related to cinema activity, Riyadh ranked first with 820 commercial records, followed by Makkah with about 440 records. The Eastern Province issued 125 records, followed by Madinah with about 47 commercial records. Qassim has issued 18 commercial records. In its report, the Ministry included the film production activity under the economic activities in the promising sectors, which constitute one of the opportunities launched by the Kingdom's Vision 2030 in front of the local and foreign business sector. This includes a number of fields that enjoy high attractiveness as a result of the high growth it is witnessing, which made it a hub for cooperation and bilateral partnerships. It is worth mentioning that the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) had earlier announced the launch of the film sector financing program, which aims to enhance the Saudi film sector's infrastructure and boost its production with a budget of SR879 million. The program is one of the initiatives of IGNITE, which aims to boost local digital content creation and production, and develop the cultural sector in the Kingdom in general and the film industry in particular.
