Cinema of Saudi Arabia

Keif al-Hal? triggered a debate on the country's stance on cinemas and films. The documentary short film directed by Abdullah Al-Eyaf called Cinema 500 km discussed the issue of banning movie theaters and the film forced the media to take up the issue and discuss it. Wadjda was selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards - The first time the country made a submission to the Oscars,[9] but it was not nominated.[10][11][12] It earned a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 BAFTA Awards.

Barakah Yoqabil Barakah was the first feature film from Saudi Arabia to participate in the Berlin International Film Festival; it won a jury award at the festival.

In the 1970s, there were many movie theaters in Saudi Arabia and they were not considered un-Islamic, though they were seen as contrary to Arab cultural norms.

In the 1980s, there were some improvised movie halls in Saudi Arabia, most of which were in Jeddah and Mecca, where Egyptian, Indian, and Turkish films were screened without government intervention. However, all these halls were closed due to the growing objections of religious conservatives during the Islamic revival movement in the 1980s. As a political response to an increase in Islamist activism, including the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the government closed all cinemas and theaters.[13]

During the cinema ban, the only public theater in Saudi Arabia was a single IMAX cinema located in Khobar at the Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Science and Technology Center.[14] The IMAX cinema, in operation since 2005,[15] shows only educational films. The documentaries are mostly productions from the United States shown in Arabic, with English audio headphones available.

In November 2005, a 1,400-seat cinema opened at a hotel in Riyadh for a limited run. The cinema was open for women and children only and showed foreign cartoons dubbed in Arabic.[16] Following the public screenings, the cinema ban was put into question as the demand for movie theaters in Saudi Arabia increased.[17]

On 11 December 2017, as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Culture and Information announced that public movie theaters would be allowed by 2018.[18] The government hopes that by 2030, Saudi Arabia will already have more than 300 theaters with over 2,000 movie screens.[19] The first public film screening was Black Panther beginning on 18 April 2018 for five days in a 620-seat cinema owned by AMC Theatres in Riyadh's King Abdullah Financial District which was originally intended to be a symphony hall. Avengers: Infinity War began screening in the kingdom on 26 April.[20] In May 2018, it was announced that IMAX had signed a deal with VOX Cinemas to open at least four IMAX venues following the lifting of the cinema ban. At the time, it was also announced that VOX Cinemas intends to open 600 screens throughout Saudi Arabia over the next five years. As well as the cost of investment Vox Cinemas announced it would be investing $533 million.[15][21] In January 2019, officially public movie theaters were opened in Jeddah city.[22] “By 2030, Saudi Arabia is expected to host 2,600 cinema screens that will entertain its growing population,” said Dr Martin Berlin, Middle East partner and global deals real estate leader at PwC Middle East." [23]

Cinépolis has started the process to open a number of cinemas in Saudi Arabia. This will include introducing 63 screens to Dammam, Jazan, Jeddah, Riyadh and Najran.[24]

Video rental stores started appearing in the 1980s and offered Arabic, Western, and Asian movies. By the late 1990s, the increasing number of free-to-air satellite TV channels had led most video stores to close.

A small number of films have been shot in Saudi Arabia with a Saudi cast since the early 2000s. However, due to the lack of cinemas in Saudi Arabia before April 2018, those listed have not been shown within Saudi Arabia itself. Notable Saudi films include:

• Dhilal al Sammt (Shadow of Silence; 2004)
• Cinema 500 km (2006)
• Keif al-Hal? (2006)
• Women without Shadows (Nisaa Bil Thil; 2006)
• I Don' Wanna (2008)
• Shadow (2008)
• Three Men and a Woman (2008)
• According to Local Time (2008)
• Sunrise/Sunset (2008)
• Last Day (2008)
• Project (2008)
• Wadjda (2013)
• 11 AM (2016)
• Barakah Meets Barakah (2016)
• The Great Muse (2016)
• The Physical Properties of Coffee (2017)
• Jeddah Vlog (2017)
• Sa'diya Left Sultan (2017)
• The Bliss Of Being No One (2016)
• Coexistence (2018)
• Erase (2018)[25]
• Roll'em (2019)

• Le Schiave Esistono Ancora (Italian; 1964)
• Malcolm X (American; 1992) - the first non-documentary to be given permission to film in Mecca
• Le Grand Voyage (French; 2004) - partly filmed in Mecca
• Exile Family Movie (Austrian; 2006)
• Keif al-Hal? (2006)
• The Kingdom ( 2007 )
• Gaddama (Malayalam; 2011)
• Wadjda (Saudi-German; 2013)
• Barakah Yoqabil Barakah (Saudi; 2016)
• A Hologram for the King (English; 2016)
• The Great Muse (Saudi; 2016)
• The Physical Properties of Coffee (Saudi; 2017)
• Jeddah Vlog (Saudi; 2017)
• Sa'diya Left Sultan (Saudi; 2017)
• The Bliss Of Being No One (Saudi; 2016)
• Joud (Saudi; 2018)

• Abdullah Al-Muheisen
• Sameera Aziz
• Musab Alamri
• Mohammad Makki
• Abdullah Al-Eyaf
• Haifaa al-Mansour
• Mohamed Al Salman
• Yousef Linjawi
• Mohammad Aldhahri
• Mohammad Al Khalif
• Abdulmuhsin Almutairi
• Hussam Alhulwah
• Mohammed Alhamoud
• Abdulmohsen Al-Dhabaan
• Nawaf Almuhanna
• Mohammed Salman
• Abdullah Abuljadail
• Mohammed Albash
• Mosa Althounian
• Mohana Abdullah
• Abdulrahman Khawj
• Mahmoud Sabbagh
• Gigi Hozimah
• Abdulmuhsen Alquseer
• Bakr Alduhaim[26]
• Bader Alhomoud

• Hisham Fageeh
• Ahd Kamel
• Fatima Al-Banawi
• Hind Mohammed
• Hisham Abdulrahman
• Abdullah Al-Sarhan
• Nasir Al-Gasabi
• Habib Al-Habib
• Yusof Al-Jarrah
• Mohammed Baksh
• Mushari Hilal
• Reem Abdullah
• Ahmed Khalil
• Abdullah Alsadhan

• Censorship in Saudi Arabia
• Cinema of the world