JEDDAH: Saudi director Mohammed Salman’s Arabic film “Ghari” won the Best Short Film Award at the Scandinavian Film Festival in Finland on Friday.
This is the sixth international award the movie won at international film festivals.
The premiere of the film was held at the Saudi Film Festival in 2015, after which Salman participated in several Arab and international festivals, including Palm Springs Festival in the US, where contestants compete for Oscar nominations.
The film is about the story of a family that depends on “Ghari” (a vehicle) in its daily life; each member of the family uses the vehicle according to his/her needs: to transport goods, as an ambulance or as a race car.
The non-stereotypical narrative distinguishes the film from others where the director chooses a car to be the star of the movie.
Salman said in an interview with a local publication that the real prize is to have a Saudi film reach a wider world audience.
“We highlight a human dimension which emphasizes the beauty of Saudi culture, and perhaps the most important award was obtained at the Saudi Film Festival in Dammam, where the film was shown to Saudis thirsty for a cinematic identity of Saudi Arabia,” said Salman.
The filmmaker is a graduate of art education at King Saud University. He has worked in several artistic fields since 1995, such as photography, music, theater and film.
He produced several films, including “The Bicycle,” in 2012, for scriptwriter Abbas Al-Hayek. He won the Best Director Award at the Saudi film festival “Rotana 2013.”
The documentary film “Yellow” won the Golden Palm award at the Saudi Film Festival in 2016, as well as the Silver Palm in the script category.
Saudi film wins gold at Finland fest
Saudi film wins gold at Finland fest
Saudi Arabia welcomes ceasefire agreement between Syrian Democratic Forces and Syria state
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has welcomed an agreement between the Syrian state and Syrian Democratic Forces.
In a foreign ministry statement early on Monday, the Kingdom said it had welcomed an deal between Damascus and Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces that was announced by the Syrian government on Sunday.
The agreement entails merging all SDF forces into the defense and interior ministries and means that Kurdish forces will redeploy to east of the Euphrates river.
The 14-point deal would also see the immediate administrative and military handover of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa governorates.
The Syrian state would regain control of all border crossings, oil fields, and gas fields in the region, with protection secured by regular forces to ensure the return of resources to the Syrian government, while considering the special case of Kurdish areas, the state news agency SANA reported.
The ceasefire comes after intense fighting between the SDF and government troops in Aleppo. But SDF troops have now pulled back from there and the Syrian army now controls most areas east of Aleppo.
The Saudi foreign ministry statement also thanked the US for the agreement. Washington is believed to have supported brokering the ceasefire between allies SDF and the Syrian government, who they have also backed diplomatically since the fall of long-time dictator Bashar Assad.
The Syrian state announced on Friday a raft of new directives to recognize Syrian Kurds, including making their language official and bolstering other rights for the minority group.
