Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund is poised to launch a new $233m ($879m Saudi Riyal) film industry financing program in the first quarter of 2023, which will be open to both local and international entities, Deadline Hollywood reveled this week.
The new fund joins a raft of initiatives introduced by the Saudi Arabian government to support the building of a film and TV sector in the wake of the lifting of the country’s 35-cinema ban at the end of 2017.
According to the source, the move was part of a wider strategy to open up the country and move its economy away from a reliance on oil. Other key supports include a 40% rebate for production.
Bannered the Film Sector Financing Program, the aim of the new funding line is to stimulate the growth of a sustainable film industry and encourage private entities to get involved in the sector.
The monies will be meted out across various different financial packages targeting different parts of the production, distribution and exhibition chain.
For its part, Economic Times revealed that NEOM has attracted its first Bollywood shoot, with “Dunki,” starring Shah Rukh Khan, having filmed at the location.
The announcement was made at the second edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah on Sunday, with Wayne Borg, the managing director of NEOM.
MBS’s forced eviction policy
According to the magazine, Neom has hosted an estimated 26 productions over the past 18 months, including “Desert Warrior,” which stars US actor Anthony Mackie and is directed by Rupert Wyatt.
Meanwhile, dozens of Saudi families were forcibly evicted from the Neom site in Saudi Arabia.
Billions of Dollars on Entertainment Investment
A CNN report revealed that Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)’s Vision 2030 prides itself on offering “world-class entertainment” and says that it has organized up to 3,800 entertainment events in the country, attended by more than 80 million people.
Saudi Arabia established the General Entertainment Authority in tandem with Vision 2030 – the crown prince’s plan to diversify its economy beyond oil, which accounts for more than half of the government’s revenue. Among its goals was to almost double household spending on cultural and entertainment activities within the kingdom. Riyadh is now seeing more than $64 billion in entertainment investment, reported Arab News, with a significant proportion of that going to the live music industry.
For its part, Bloomberg said that the largest business lobbying group in the US has warned Saudi Arabia that a new privacy and data law will raise the cost of doing business in the kingdom and complicate efforts to attract foreign investors and wean its economy off a dependence on oil sales.
France 24 earlier published a report describing the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Slaman (MBS) as the “Gamer Prince” after hosting the international eSport gamers forum “Next World” this month.
Much like with Formula One and professional golf, the world’s biggest oil exporter has in recent years leveraged its immense wealth to assert itself on the eSports stage, hosting glitzy conferences and snapping up established tournament organisers, the report said.
In January, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund launched the Savvy Gaming Group, which acquired top eSports firms ESL Gaming and FACEIT in deals reportedly worth a total of $1.5 billion.
The shocking reports on MBS’s huge spending on film making have drowned sharp criticism among social media users.
