Hend Sabry resigns as World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador over failure in Gaza

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s much-awaited Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) will wrap up its third edition next month with a closing night gala screening on Dec. 7 of “Ferrari,” the biopic from Michael Mann starring Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley and Patrick Dempsey.  

Mohammed Al-Turki, CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, said about “Ferrari”: “This exhilarating film has been close to the festival’s ‘heart,’ as it has been supported by our Red Sea International Film Financing, a vehicle for us to champion acclaimed storytellers and create the opportunity for cultural exchange. Michael Mann’s powerful film shows true craftsmanship and empathy for the ambitious genius behind one of the world’s most desired works of design.”  

Organizers also unveiled the lineup for the International Spectacular program, which presents “cinema from around the globe and features celebrated auteurs and international filmmaking icons.”  

The festival said that the section “showcases some of the most highly anticipated and talked about films of the year, screened for the first time in the Arab world.”  

The International Spectacular program will feature Sofia Coppola’s biopic “Priscilla,” Ava Duvernay’s “Origin,” John Woo’s “Silent Night,” Lea Domenach’s “Bernadette” (“The President’s Wife”), Aardman’s Sam Fell-directed “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” and Yann Mounir Demange’s short “Dammi,” starring Riz Ahmed.  

Iconic Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” will screen as the public closing film. The film features a celebrity-studded English voice cast including Christian Bale as Shoichi Maki, Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King, Gemma Chan as Natsuko, Willem Dafoe as Noble Pelican, Karen Fukuhara as Lady Himi, Mark Hamill as Granduncle, Robert Pattinson as The Gray Heron and Florence Pugh as Kiriko.