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Former Universal Pictures executive Paul Chesney has announced the creation of Riyadh-based production company Red Palm Pictures on the eve of Saudi Arabia’s third Red Sea International Film Festival.
Chesney has been appointed CEO of the new, privately-owned production company, which will develop and produce original feature film, TV and documentary content for theatrical and streaming release in MENA and around the world.
The public announcement of the new production banner comes hot on the heels of the launch of sister distribution company TwentyOne Entertainment, which is also headed by Chesney and will run under the same roof.
In a first major content signing, Red Palm Pictures has struck a multi-picture development deal with Saudi writer and director Tawfik Alzaidi.
Alzaidi’s debut feature Norah is due to world premiere in Competition at the upcoming Red Sea Film Festival, running November 30 to December 9, with TwentyOne Entertainment handling international sales.
The initial four-picture deal kicks off with Alzaidi’s second feature project, the action and adventure drama Thuraya, which he is both writing and directing.
The film is currently in development and scheduled to start shooting in late 2024.
“There is a new wave of filmmaking in Saudi Arabia right now and remarkable undiscovered talent, both behind and in front of the camera,” said Chesney.
“Our goal is to be at the forefront of this growth and transformation and to nurture those filmmakers and give them local stories from within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as international co-productions.”
Tawfik Alzaidi is a leading member of Saudi Arabia’s new generation of filmmakers.
He wrote, directed and produced his feature film Norah for the big screen, with the aim of breaking away from Saudi Arabia’s YouTube and TV culture.
He began directing his own short films in 2006 and his work The Silence won the Gulf Short Film Award in Muscat IFF in 2009, ahead of the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s 35-year cinema ban in 2017.
“I could not be more excited to enter this partnership with Paul Chesney and Red Palm Pictures who understand and value my dreams as a filmmaker in the new Saudi Arabia,” said Alzaidi. “My ambition is to make important and memorable stories with limitless imagination and to establish Saudi Arabia as a real creative force in the global film community.”
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