Many stars, from Bollywood to Hollywood, have already descended on the red carpet of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah over the past few days.
Only in its second year, the festival has drawn strong star power, as the region continues to stake its claim in international show business.
Scroll through the gallery above to see some of the most famous celebrities spotted at the Saudi event
"We have a unique opportunity to make new films accessible to wider audiences, showcase the work of exciting new voices and make a meaningful contribution to the Saudi culture and wider region," Mohammed Al Turki, the festival’s chief executive, said during the opening on Thursday.
The festival is taking place at The Ritz-Carlton, Jeddah until December 10.
The event has seen an eye-catching parade of several Arab and international celebrities so far. Indian star Priyanka Chopra Jonas was a head-turner in her bright yellow satin gown during the Women in Cinema red carpet event.
Other esteemed Indian personalities spotted at the festival include Shah Rukh Khan, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and Freida Pinto, who is known for her critically-acclaimed performance in the 2008 Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire.
"Last night was spectacular and brilliant in every which way," Pinto, who also turned heads in a yellow gown by Lebanese designer Elie Saab, said in an Instagram post after the gala.
Hollywood has also been well represented at the Saudi event, with the likes of Lucy Hale, Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba strutting the Women in Cinema red carpet.
Hale is best known for her role as Aria Montgomery, one of the lead characters in hit TV show Pretty Little Liars.
Rodriguez, on the other hand, is famous for playing street racer Letty Ortiz in the Fast & Furious franchise. She also starred in the Resident Evil films, as well as the 2009 big-screen behemoth Avatar by James Cameron.
Wearing an embellished Elie Saab dress, American actress and entrepreneur Alba also walked the red carpet.
Other Hollywood guests spotted at the female-focused segment of the festival were Sharon Stone, Jacqui Ainsley Ritchie, Elle Macpherson and American dancer Julianne Hough.
The festival, which features 131 films from 61 countries in dozens of languages, also has a visitor all the way from South Korea — Squid Game actor Park Hae-soo. Since the phenomenal Netflix hit, Park has been busy shooting other projects with Netflix, including a Korean version of the Spanish suspense-drama Money Heist.
Of course, the Red Sea International Film Festival is inundated with A-list actors and actresses from the Middle East and North Africa region. Saudi actress Mila Al Zahrani was spotted during the opening, as well as Hussein Fahmy, Yousra and Nelly Karim from Egypt.
Lebanese superstars Nicolas Mouawad and Nadine Nassib Njeim also graced the opening gala.
The festival will feature talks from some of the celebrity attendees, including Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, whose Capernaum drew global recognition from Cannes and the Oscars.
Other famous personalities at the festival include Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio, British filmmakers Guy Ritchie and Gurinder Chadha, and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter Oliver Stone, who leads the jury.
Scroll through the gallery below to see the opening night at the Red Sea Film Festival 2022
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
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Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPECS
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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