This announcement was made by Italian Consul General Simone Petroni at the end of the screening of Swiss comedy “Operation Casablanca.”
Petroni said due to reasons beyond their control they had to take the decision of stopping the activities of the film festival at the Italian Cultural Center but the film festival may continue on the consulate premises or at residences of the consuls general of the countries of films that are to be screened.
Petroni said European missions wanted to share the culture and traditions of their countries and this was the only reason why they started this film festival, which had been organized at the Italian Cultural Center for the past five years under the supervision of the EU delegation in Riyadh and cooperation of consulates in Jeddah.
This year nine European countries Italy, Spain, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, France, Greece and Belgium and also host country Saudi Arabia took part with movies. The different consulates are considering announcement of the new venue.
The audience of the festival was terribly disappointed because of the decision as they thought the films are a medium for the cultural exchange.
“Each and everyone should respect others' cultures, if we look back in to the history each country has its own culture and religion, as Saudi Arabia has its own culture and traditions. Islam also orders us to respect other religion, if there is no interaction and interfaith dialogue there will be no peace,” said an Arab attendee.
