All the significant changes that Saudi Arabia has witnessed in the past years, left a positive impact that opened doors for Saudis to shine, to rise, and to step forward. Today just so happens to be another great day for Saudi talents, with Netflix launching a curation of 11 short films titled ‘New Saudi Voices,’ which were previously showcased at The Red Sea Festival and are also part of the New Saudi/New Cinema Shorts.
The reason this is exciting, is that it highlights Saudi talents including up-and-coming filmmakers so they can stream their films and projects on NETFLIX. This significant step will be an addition to the already successful MENA region content on NETFLIX, which previously collaborated with Sard, a dedicated hub for Arab scriptwriters to train women in creative writing, as well as investing $250,000 in Arab Female Filmmakers like Jana Wehbe and Asmae El Moudir.
The two things that these films have in common are original concepts and great storytelling. Other than that, each one of them stands out in its own way.
The 11 films will take us through different time eras and genres, from sci-fi, animation, to horror and more, starting with the fictional ‘Hallucinated’ by Mohamed Basalamah. This film takes us on a journey to illustrate how insomnia changes the life of Moayad, a delivery man whose condition keeps getting worse over time. Through the film, we will see the challenges and obstacles Moayad faces.
‘The Day I Lost Myself’ by Rami Alzayer, is another incredible film that will be showcased through Netflix’s new project. The story centres around Salem, who suffers from constant anxiety, and the film shows us how things take another leap when he goes to an interview and finds himself stuck in an elevator with an old man.
Two other films that will be shown are documentaries like ‘Arufea’ by Abbas Alshuwayfie, highlighting the intimacy of an old Saudi neighborhood, as well as ‘Covid the 19th’ by Omar Al Omirat, which will take us through the changes in lifestyle that were resulted by the pandemic.
The list doesn’t stop here, offering more films like ‘Whisper Down The Lane’ by Raghad Albarqi, ‘The Jakar’ by Abdulaziz Saleh, ‘The Palm Witch’ by Hala Alhaid, ‘Hide and Seek’ by Mohammad Helal, ‘Red Circle’ by Abdulaziz Sarhan, and ‘Little Bird’ by Khalid Fahad.
Netflix’s curation of content by Arab talents is only a deep rabbit hole, only for you to peek into and pull the unimaginable. Don’t forget to add them to your must-watch list, as they are all made available to watch across NETFLIX MENA starting today.
