Saudi Arabia's growing cinema soft power

CANNES

Accompanying Naomi Campbell on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last week was one of cinema's most powerful men and he represents a country where cinemas were banned until five years ago.

Mohammed Al Turki, 36, heads Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Foundation, his name splashed all over posters and movie credits at the world's biggest cinema gathering on the French Riviera.

The foundation, formed two years ago, holds its own annual festival and has already financed 168 movies, including eight in the official selection at Cannes this year.

Among them was festival opener "Jeanne du Barry" about a French prostitute falling in love with King Louis XV, played by Johnny Depp.

Others seemed equally at odds with traditional Saudi values - female-focused films such as "Four Daughters" about the religious radicalization of Tunisian girls, or "Goodbye Julia" about a Sudanese woman and her overbearing conservative husband.

"We have learned to respect other cultures," Emad Iskandar, director of the Red Sea Film Foundation, told AFP.

He said the foundation focuses on Arab and African filmmakers, though the precise definition seems flexible: the French director of "Jeanne du Barry," Maiwenn, qualified thanks to her Algerian father.

"As long as we have the resources, we want to serve the region, but also take the opportunity to learn more," Iskandar added.

Al Turki's foundation also sponsored a gala for women, attended by Catherine Deneuve, Katie Holmes and supermodel Campbell.

"MO!! Proud of all your doing @redseafilm creating history of many 1st's and Changing the narrative," Campbell wrote of Al Turki on her Instagram. Saudi largesse for the arts has boomed under the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with billions pouring into previously taboo areas such as music, fashion and sports.

"Come to visit and get to know Saudi Arabia and then talk about us. The West has arrived where it is after years of wars and debates. We are a 90-year-old state -- be patient."

In any case, the relentless PR campaign is working. The Saudi presence at Cannes felt less controversial than that of Depp, still widely branded as toxic since his court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.

Cannes director Thierry Fremaux celebrated the kingdom's interest in "producing films and allowing artists to emerge."

"Saudi Arabia is evolving," he told Variety.