Hollywood star Michelle Rodriguez talks women in cinema at RSIFF 

Michelle Rodriguez shed light on her career choices. (Getty)
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Updated 07 December 2023
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Hollywood star Michelle Rodriguez talks women in cinema at RSIFF 

JEDDAH: Hollywood star Michelle Rodriguez sat down at the Red Sea International Film Festival’s Talent Days forum on Wednesday to shed light on her career choices, as well as the role of women in cinema.  

Moderated by Saudi actor Ibrahim Al-Hajjaj at the Ritz-Carlton in Jeddah, the pair chatted candidly on the perceived divide between old Hollywood and television, with Rodriguez stating: “There is always a wall between old Hollywood and television where there are certain people you know in the industry wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole, and that has to do with the susceptibility.” 




The session was moderated by Saudi actor Ibrahim Al-Hajjaj at the Ritz-Carlton in Jeddah. (Getty)

Known for her roles in action movies, including the fan-loved “Fast & Furious” franchise, Rodriguez reminded the audience that “films are about discovery and teamwork as much as it is about vision and storytelling.” 

Rodriguez also discussed her criteria for selecting movies, highlighting her commitment to avoiding projects that contain nudity, negative portrayals of women, or drug dealers. 

“I can’t play any negative character that misrepresents a woman as it is forbidden and I need to give little girls something else to see. If the script has a drug dealer or something like this, I will say no,” she said. 




Rodriguez discussed her criteria for selecting movies, highlighting her commitment to avoiding projects that contain nudity, negative portrayals of women, or drug dealers. (Getty)

Reflecting on the representation of women in the film industry, Rodriguez noted the positive changes both on and off screen, saying: “The representation of women has changed... there are doors opening... it’s time for women to discover what that power is.” 

Speaking of Mohammed Al-Turki, CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, Rodriguez commended his support for women in the industry.  

“He has got more women in his film festival than any other film festival worldwide. His support, his desire to give voice to women is unparalleled. Nobody else does that,” she said. 

The Red Sea International Film Festival runs until Dec. 9. 


‘One in a Million’: Syrian refugee tale wows Sundance

Updated 24 January 2026
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‘One in a Million’: Syrian refugee tale wows Sundance

PARK CITY: As a million Syrians fled their country's devastating civil war in 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes headed to Turkey where they would meet a young girl who encapsulated the contradictions of this enormous migration.

In Ismir, they met Isra'a, a then-11-year-old girl whose family had left Aleppo as bombs rained down on the city, and who would become the subject of their documentary "One In A Million," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.

For the next ten years, they followed her and her family's travels through Europe, towards Germany and a new life, where the opportunities and the challenges would almost tear her family apart.

The film is by directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes. (Supplied)

There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.

"The obvious vulnerability of her situation, especially as being a child going through this, but that at the same time, she was an agent.

"She wasn't sitting back, waiting for other people to save her. She was trying to fight, make her own way there."

The documentary mixes fly-on-the-wall footage with sit-down interviews that reveal Isra'a's changing relationship with Germany, with her religion, and with her father.

It is this evolution between father and daughter that provides the emotional backbone to the film, and through which tensions play out over their new-found freedoms in Europe -- something her father struggles to adjust to.

Isra'a, who by the end of the film is a married mother living in Germany, said watching her life on film in the Park City theatre was "beautiful."

And having documentarists follow her every step of the way as she grew had its upsides.

"I felt like this was something very special," she told the audience after the screening. "My friends thought I was famous; it made making friends easier and faster."