The Red Sea Film Festival 2023 opened on Thursday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The third edition of the festival featured a star-studded line-up that saw the likes Will Smith, Johnny Depp and Michelle Williams bring their a-game to the red carpet. Which is hardly surprising, seeing as the globally acclaimed film festival brings together film connoisseurs, filmmakers and A-list celebrities to the Kingdom year after year.
Saudi Arabia is considered a creative hub in the Middle East. A testament to Saudi Arabia‘s film and television industry’s increasing strength, the Red Sea Film Festival 2023 comes just six years after the nation’s 35-year cinema ban was lifted as part of its 2030 strategy to diversify the country’s economy away from oil. The prestigious festival takes place from November 30 to December 9 and is a dynamic platform showcasing exclusive screenings of unreleased films.
Joel Kinnaman, Freida Pinto, Amina Khalil and Paz Vega are on the Red Sea:Features jury, which will be overseen by Australian film director Baz Luhrmann, and the judges for the Red Sea:Shorts competition are Fatih Akin, Assaad Bouab and Hana Alomair. The MENA Premiere of Ferrari, the new Michael Mann biopic starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, will kick off the Festival Awards night, while The Boy and the Heron, Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent film, will be shown as the public closing film.
See which stars donned the Red Sea Film Festival 2023 red carpet in GRAZIA’s round-up below.
Michelle Williams
WILL SMITH
SOFIA VERGARA
dina elsherbiny
ed Westwick & amy jackson
aseel omran
Mo Al Turki, Diane Kruger & Jomana Al Rashid
baz luhrmann and Catherine Martin
JOHNNY DEPP
LUCAS BRAVO
AMINA KHALIL
FREIDA PINTO
YASMINE SABRI
