‘It’s time for us to tell our story,’ grandson says as ‘Born a King’ premieres in the UAE
Updated 24 September 2019
Arab News
DUBAI: The UAE premiere of “Born a King” took place on Tuesday, with Prince Saud Bin Turki Al-Faisal, the grandson of King Faisal Al-Saud, revealing that the production team is willing to produce a sequel for the movie.
Al-Faisal believes the film, which tells the story of a young King Al-Saud during his trip to the UK on a diplomatic mission aged just 13, is a representation of Saudi culture.
“It is time for us to tell our story as it was, and not let anyone speak our story,” Al-Faisal said. “This is just the start.”
The film’s producer, Andre Vicente Gomez, believes the movie will break stereotypes about Saudi Arabia. “I worked three years on (this movie) since we started developing the picture,” he said during the press conference in Dubai.
“There are a lot of stereotypes about the country. If the film will surprise the Saudis, then imagine the European or American reactions,” he told Arab News.
The movie, shot in Riyadh and London, cost almost $20 million to make.
“When we started (the project) we did not know cinema will be authorized in Saudi Arabia,” Gomez added. Now, “Born a King” will be the first Saudi movie to premier in its home country, Gomez said.
“Born a King” will hit theaters across the Middle East and North Africa on Sept. 26.
Art Dubai’s 18th edition marks UAE’s rise as key market for contemporary art
Latest edition of the region’s leading contemporary art fair presented high-quality works from around the world, cementing the Gulf metropolis as a key market player
Updated 4 min 34 sec ago
Rebecca Anne Proctor
DUBAI: The Madinat Jumeirah is alive once again with the invigorating buzz of collectors, artists, gallerists and art lovers all gathered for the 18th edition of Art Dubai, which runs until April 20. There is the familiar sound of a multitude of languages and accents, reflecting Dubai’s ever-growing international population as gallerists from around the world, including North America, China, South and Central Asia, Africa and from across the Middle East, showcase works that reflect the artistic breadth and culture of their respective countries.
Of note are the 30 new exhibitors at Art Dubai, hailing from around the world, forming part of the 120 galleries taking part this year. The quality of works on display, underlined artistic director Pablo del Val, are particularly noteworthy this year and, he says, evoke a sense of escapism and surrealism as if to provide refuge from the uncertainty of today’s times.
The quality of works and international range of galleries also reflect the changing nature of Dubai.
Mohasses, Untitled, 50 x 70 cm. (Supplied)
Rather than take up residence in Dubai for a short-term period of a few years, new residents are coming to the city with plans, it seems, to stay for longer. At the same time, there has been notable investment in cultural infrastructure within the UAE that is now paying off, resulting in a plethora of new museums, galleries, institutions and initiatives offering visitors to Art Dubai a wealth of cultural activities outside the fair.
“Today there is a change in the architecture (of Dubai), with residents desiring more state-of-the-art homes with more space,” del Val told Arab News. “When these people move to Dubai they are doing so with a long-term version. This gives a sense of stability to the city and necessitates a different kind of art collecting.”
Among the newcomers to the fair was Richard Saltoun Gallery, which has branches in Rome, London and New York.
Mohasses, Untitled, 70 x 100 cm. (Supplied)
“This will be our first participation at Art Dubai and we are thrilled to be participating. Dubai, and the UAE in general, is one of the most interesting and growing markets that we work with,” Niamh Coglan, sales director at Richard Saltoun Gallery, told Arab News. “The institutional collections, foundations and private collections are curious, active and engaging to work with. Having worked with several major museums and foundations over the past few years in the region, we knew we had to take a more active role and be more present.”
Among the artists the gallery will show at the fair is Mozambican modernist Bertina Lopes, whose work is on display in the exhibition Kings and Queens of Africa at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Among the notable works at the fair was a large 196 x 363 cm painting by the late Iranian artist Bahman Mohassess and New York-based Leila Heller Gallery’s booth portraying two abstract figures locked in a passionate embrace, one colored red and the other off-white next to a group of stones and an abstract black bird flying overhead. The work, which has garnered great interest among collectors, is being sold for $2,650,000.
Mohasses, Untitled.25 x 35 cm. (Supplied)
In the Bawwaba section of specially commissioned works for the fair, Saudi artist Abdullah Al-Othman is showcasing a solo project in the form of a large installation work of signs, symbols and photography from around Riyadh as part of his series Manifesto: the Language & the City (2011). The work is being displayed through Iris Art Projects, the only GCC gallery exhibiting in the section.
Showcasing works from the African continent and diaspora is Efie Gallery, a Dubai-based gallery that recently moved to Alserkal Avenue. The gallery’s booth presented a mixed media presentation that is thoughtfully and serenely curated featuring works by Abdoulaye Konate, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Hugh Findletar and J.K. Bruce Vanderpuije.
“We love being in the Middle East and Dubai because it has offered us a clean slate as opposed to the West, where we need to deconstruct narratives,” said co-founder of the gallery Kwame Mintah. “Here we are offered the space to construct the narratives.”
11th Saudi Film Festival opens with a night of cinema, culture, stars
Updated 18 April 2025
Jasmine Bager
DHAHRAN: The red carpet was rolled out for the 11th edition of the Saudi Film Festival on Thursday, as the event confirmed its role as a cornerstone of the Kingdom’s burgeoning movie culture.
Hosted by the dynamic duo — Saudi actors Aixa Kay and Khaled Saqer — the celebration at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran was brimming with glamor and drama.
Saudi opera singer Mohammed Khayran Al-Zahrani and renowned French soprano Fabienne Conrad serenaded the crowd, while a live orchestra performed a medley of classical renditions of popular film scores under the direction of maestro Gevorg Sargsyan.
The 11th Saudi Film Festival was hosted by Saudi actress Aixa Kay and actor Khaled Saqer. (Supplied)
The event was organized by the Cinema Association in strategic partnership with Ithra — an Aramco initiative — and was supported by the Saudi Film Commission of the Ministry of Culture.
This year’s festival, with the theme “Cinema of Identity,” delves into the power of storytelling to reflect and shape cultural, personal and collective narratives.
At the opening, Cinema Association chairwoman Hana Al-Omair emphasized the theme’s significance.
“We present this year’s edition at a time when Saudi film production is undergoing noticeable growth. Saudi films are no longer rare appearances; they are now competing for prime slots in Arab cinemas. This reflects an artistic momentum worth pausing and reflecting upon,” she said.
She also highlighted the festival’s special focus.
Saudi opera singer Mohammed Khayran Al-Zahrani and renowned French soprano Fabienne Conrad. (Supplied)
“In addition to the usual festival activities, we are shining a spotlight on the Japanese cinema experience, which has had a profound impact on world cinema, thanks to its artistic schools, rich experience and global history,” she said.
Opening night saw visitors treated to the premiere of “Siwar” by Osama Al-Khuraiji.
The program, which runs until April 23, is packed with events including a steady stream of stars, film screenings, seminars, workshops, masterclasses and the coveted Golden Palm awards.
Since its founding in 2008, the Saudi Film Festival has become the Kingdom’s longest-running cinematic event.
This year, 36 out of 68 screenings are Saudi and Gulf films, comprising eight narrative features, 21 shorts and seven documentaries. Parts of the proceedings, and some other festival events, are being live-streamed.
For more information about buying tickets, visit the Ithra website.
Saudi filmmaker Ryan Al-Bishri discusses ‘When the Light Shines’
The documentary about Layan Culture tells a remarkable story of artistic perseverance against the odds
Updated 18 April 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s cultural scene is becoming increasingly significant both inside and outside of the Gulf region, with the Kingdom’s artists being collected by prestigious international institutions and fetching impressive prices at auction.
But a common gripe is that there is little archival material on those creatives who, decades ago — and without any of the institutional support the current generation now enjoy — built careers for themselves and inspired those who came after them.
In his documentary “When the Light Shines,” which screens at the Saudi Film Festival today, Saudi filmmaker Ryan Al-Bishri reveals one long-running initiative that bucks that trend. Layan Culture was officially established in 2007 by Prince Faissal bin Abdullah bin Mohammad Al-Saud and Princess Adelah bint Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, but stems from decades-long support for artists and creators from its founders.
Filmmaker Ryan Al-Bishri. (Dhasha Productions)
Layan is an archive, a collective, an “art-concept creator” and much more. It celebrates, promotes and is a patron of Saudi creatives. Its website states that its vision is also to “nurture artistic appreciation in the minds and hearts of the Saudi people.” However, despite its significance, Layan Culture is little-known, even inside the Kingdom. Al-Bishri hopes to change that.
Al-Bishri was first introduced to Prince Faissal through his father, the fashion designer Yahya Al-Bishri.
“I heard a lot of the stories through my father, of course. And then from Prince Faissal himself. And whenever they talked about it, it was just like ‘Wow!’ Stories I’d never heard —really interesting stuff from back in the 1960s,” Al-Bishri tells Arab News.
A few of those stories — of trips overseas or to then-rarely visited areas of Saudi Arabia as the prince and his friends attempted to gather information about the Kingdom’s artistic and cultural heritage — made it into “When the Light Shines.” Indeed, Al-Bishri says, one in particular was the spark for the whole project.
In the 1960s, American artist, photographer and explorer Gerhardt Liebmann entered Saudi Arabia through Yemen. “He just walked in — no visa or nothing — and started painting,” says Al-Bishri. Eventually, Liebmann was discovered by the authorities and deported.
Layan Culture’s managing director Ghada AlTobaishi (R) and art director Mazen Tarabishi. (Courtesy of Dhasha Productions)
Years later, Prince Faissal and others were on a trip to Geneva. As they were walking past one of its many art galleries, the prince spotted a painting of a mosque minaret. The gallery provided the name of the artist (yes, Liebmann) and Prince Faissal reached out to him. In 1981, Liebmann returned to the Kingdom. The minaret, it turned out, was that of a mosque in Taif. Over the next few years, until Liebmann’s death in 1985, the artist visited regularly, painting portraits of some of the Kingdom’s rulers and its landmarks. Those works form part of Layan Culture’s extensive collection related to Saudi Arabia, much of which the organization has restored, and much of which has never been on public display.
When putting the documentary together, Al-Bishri was himself left bemoaning the lack of material available from the 20th century. “There’s a lot of archive we wish we had,” he says. “Like, if there was any footage of Gerhardt and his journey and the people around him, that would have been really incredible.”
Fortunately, Al-Bishri did have access to Prince Faissal’s personal footage. “He had a team around him who filmed, and we had to gather everything we could to get this together. As you see in the film, everyone is really down-to-earth and welcoming. They never had any formalities about anything. Even the prince himself.”
That footage makes up some of the documentary’s most joyous scenes — including a camping trip to the Empty Quarter — in which you really get a sense of the camaraderie between this handful of people trying to create a lasting cultural legacy. As Al-Bishri’s father says in the film, “Across the Kingdom, there were only individual efforts by people, and only a few who were willing to support these few artists.”
Those words are echoed on screen by artist, sculptor and photographer Dr. Dia Aziz Dia, who was given a scholarship to study art in Italy, but on his return, he says, “I was surprised that society wasn’t ready to embrace art.”
“The prince connected a lot of people together. Without that, you’ve lost that sense of community. A lot of people might have given up,” says Al-Bishri. “Especially at a time where everyone was telling you what you’re doing is wrong. You know, my father got that for a long time: ‘This is not right, what you’re doing is very wrong.’ But finding a group of people who are there to support you, as an artist, was incredible. Now we have that, of course, the government, the ministries… all of this change, it’s wonderful. But it kind of feels like it misses the people before this — the people who fought, who struggled. We have to talk about them too. They started this. I want this film to bring people to Layan Culture so they can really appreciate the work that they’ve done.”
It certainly seems to have done that. Since its premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival late last year, “When the Light Shines” — the title alludes to Prince Faissal’s feeling that now was the time to make some more noise about the work of Layan Culture — has won Best Film at the Munich New Wave Film Festival and been officially selected to compete at Mexico City’s Mirada Corta Short Film Festival, East Village New York Film Festival, and the Florence Film Awards, as well as appearing at several other festivals. And Al-Bishri hopes his short documentary will spawn a television series.
“There are so many stories that we discovered that even a feature-length film wouldn’t be enough,” he says. “What we want to do is make a short film about each artist where they talk about their journey. I think that would be great.”
His goal is a simple one.
“I want people to recognize the amount of work these people have put in. They sacrificed a lot and they had to fight a lot of people — a lot of family — just to do what they love,” he says. “A lot of these artists — a lot of these communities — were very quiet before and maybe they got used to that. But I think it’s very important that they should not be forgotten.”
The Indian artist’s “Liminal Gaps,” according to the gallery Nature Morte, “explores the areas ‘in between,’ or transitional spaces” and “reshapes perspectives on India’s evolving cultural identity.’ The installation acts as a 3D drawing through which the viewer can move. Singh has said her works “aim to counter established narratives.”
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
‘Message with(out) a code’
This work comes from the Lebanese duo’s ongoing series “Uncomformities” (a geological term indicating natural disasters and geological movements). That series began in 2016 when the artists started collecting earth core samples that “revealed the subterranean worlds of cities omnipresent in the personal imaginaries: Athens, Paris, Beirut and Tripoli.
Dhewadi Hadjab
‘Untitled’
This work comes from a series of paintings that the Algerian-born artist created last year, which were presented in Paris in November. At the time, art critic Anael Pigeat wrote: “He shows unreal images of positions impossible to maintain: several times in one single time and several bodies in one single body.”
Stars and showrunner discuss the final episodes of the acclaimed series
Updated 18 April 2025
Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: As “Andor” returns this week on Disney+ for its second and final season, the acclaimed “Star Wars” spinoff barrels toward the events of 2016’s “Rogue One,” in which rebel spy Cassian Andor gives his life on a mission that triggers the events of the 1977 film that started it all: “Star Wars: A New Hope.”
For Diego Luna, who reprises his role as the titular rebel hero, that inevitability heightens the emotional stakes.
“As the events kept getting closer to ‘Rogue One’ it made every moment meaningful and full of complexity, because you know that that very dramatic fatal finale is coming,” Luna tells Arab News. “Therefore, every moment of life, every chance these characters have to breathe, is like a reminder of the end approaching. At least from my perspective, I was always thinking, ‘Oh my god, poor guy, he doesn't know what's coming.’”
Tony Gilroy and Genevieve O’Reilly on the set of 'Andor' season two. (Supplied)
Showrunner Tony Gilroy adds: “Knowing where you’re ending up is the most liberating thing. It frees up everything else.”
The new season will also bring closure for other characters in Andor’s life — some of whom aren’t in “Rogue One,” notably Adria Arjona’s Bix Caleen and Stellan Skarsgard’s machinating revolutionary Luthen Rael.
“I got really lucky this season; I got to dig a bit deeper than I did in in season one,” says Arjona. “Bix goes through so much this season, so much healing and so much heartbreak. Every scene is a challenge. There's not a single scene in this show any of us can say was easy. You never let your guard down when you're handed such a great piece of material. It feels like a gift and I didn't take a single moment lightly.”
“Andor” charts the title character’s transformation from disinterested, cynical nobody into a rebel hero on his way to an epic destiny. Season one, which debuted in 2022, was set five years before “Rogue One” and covered the first year of that journey. The 12 episodes of the final season are split into four equal “chapters,” each moving us a year forward.
Adria Arjona in 'Andor' season two. (Supplied)
“There are 25 to 30 regular characters,” Gilroy says. “And the questions are: Who lives? Who dies? Who triumphs? Who fails? Who betrays whom?”
British star Ben Mendelsohn, who reprises his role as the menacing Imperial officer Orson Krennic, tells Arab News: “I hope the audience takes away an experience of seeing two sides going to war. And I hope somewhere inside themselves, they can think both of these sides are fighting for what they think is a good idea, and ask themselves, ‘Which one do I prefer?’”
While “Andor” draws heavily from real-world history, Luna insists it isn’t designed to mirror current global politics.
“This is a story about revolution and about a community getting their hands dirty and coming together. It’s inspiring, yes, and it'll always be inspiring, because, throughout history, change has always been needed. However, we weren’t thinking about today,” says Luna. “We were concerned with being honest in telling this story within the framing of ‘Star Wars.’
“Basically, the writing of Tony Gilroy reflects everything he has gone through and the world he’s lived in. It's all there,” he continues. “There are references to 10 years ago, to 50 years ago, to the history we know about who we are and why we're here. And that's always going to be pertinent, not just today. Probably in 50 years, someone could see ‘Andor’ and be, like, ‘Is this about today?’”
