Saudi Arabia enters new era of cultural, social openness

CAIRO – 12 January 2018: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will enter a new era of cultural and social openness with the screening of international children movies on Wednesday, January 17 in Jeddah.

Last December, the Saudi government started to issue licenses for the establishment of cinema halls for the first time in three decades. This decision strongly reflects Saudi Arabia’s desire to kick off its cinematic activities.

Saudi media announced that “The Emoji” and “Captain Underpants” are the first two movies selected for screening. Riyadh will host the screening of three other movies which are “The Son of Big Foot”, “Smurfs” and “Paddington 2”, between January 18 and 31.
“The establishment of Saudi cinemas’ decision is the first step towards a strong Saudi cinema industry in the coming years,” recounted the renowned Saudi actor Mohamed Bakhsh in an interview with Okaz newspaper.

Bakhsh stressed that Saudi film production needs a lot of funding and support to compete in the international cinema industry and to support emerging Saudi talents.
Bakhsh linked the promotion of a real cinema industry with the establishment of a cinema base that exists in all the countries around the world.

“We must have a strong cinema base through the establishment of cinema institutes to enhance Saudi artists’ talents, especially since the decision of opening cinema halls needs cinema production, because most of the countries around the world consider cinema as an independent important industry.”

Bakhsh demanded the establishment of a Saudi media city as the base of a strong Saudi cinema industry.U.S. media paid great attention to the social and cultural change initiated by Saudi Arabia in recent months.

The Washington Post said that the kingdom's conservative government has become an art sponsor, funding concerts for western celebrities such as Yanni, and promoting comic festivals and book fairs.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman previously issued orders to ease restrictions on women. Of his most prominent reforms is the lifting of the driving ban on women, which is set to be lifted in June. Bin Salman also gave Saudi women the permission to attend the country’s national day last September in Riyadh.

Also, women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to attend a professional football match for the first time in the country’s history on Friday, January 12.