JEDDAH: The Jeddah Film Festival and Sayidaty women’s magazine (a sister publication of Arab News) will present special awards to Saudi women who excel and show cinema talent in acting, directing and script writing.

“We want to give opportunity and encouragement to new talents in the film industry,” Halima Muzafar, a renowned poet and media woman, told a press conference here yesterday.

Muzafar is in charge of editorial at the Saudi magazine.

“The award is aimed at driving the Saudi woman toward creation and excellence in the film industry within the context of GCC countries,” she said.

She explained that the final prize is of two types — a major prize and an encouraging one. “The latter would be given to the best woman director and script writer at the Kingdom level,” she said, hoping the prize would eventually develop into an Arab event.

Journalists entered into a heated discussion about the current situation and the future of the Saudi film industry.

During discussions, some journalists called for the Ministry of Culture and Information to sponsor the Saudi film festival, while others asked for the inclusion of the famous Saudi cinema figure Abdullah Al-Mihaisni in the judging panel.

The request to make the ministry a sponsor of the festival was thought of as a way out toward establishing cinema houses, which do not exist in the Kingdom.

Some conservatives still consider cinemas as wrong. The pressmen were unanimous in their belief that the main obstacle facing the Saudi film industry is the absence of cinemas. Paradoxically, theatrical shows take place in the Kingdom and are openly advertised.

As there are no cinemas, films are shown at special halls. Viewers are also discouraged from attending the Saudi cinema festival, which is usually held in the month of July during the summer school vacation.

Attendants asked officials in charge of the festival to stay away from accepting films for complimentary reasons and judge them on merit.

Muzafar said the competition for the prize is open to both Saudi women and foreign men residing in the Arab Gulf region.