2025/01/20 by Sean Foley · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies #Socioeconomic Development in MENA #South Asian Cinema and Culture
paper · doi:10.1163/18739865-01704004
openalex publication_date 2025/01/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Despite the recent boom in Saudi Arabia’s film industry, scholarly literature addressing the topic remains limited. This article fills the gap by drawing on my extensive research of the Saudi film industry, which has made innovative contributions to rethinking how we approach Saudi film and the Kingdom’s culture more broadly. Here I include interviews conducted in Saudi Arabia and Japan between October 2023 and May 2024. Among the individuals interviewed were leading film professionals, key figures in Film AlUla and other new Saudi film institutions, and a Saudi partner in Japan’s anime industry—many of whose perspectives have not been included in previous scholarly works. In addition, I discuss Mandoob and other recent Saudi films. Ultimately, I aim to provide a fresh vision of the industry’s history, its recent achievements and the factors shaping its future.