Michael Caine, Vin Diesel Join Parade of Stars at Red Sea Film Fest

The fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival opened Thursday night with a glittering red carpet and the Middle East premiere of Giant, British filmmaker Rowan Athale’s boxing biopic about British-Yemeni champion “Prince” Naseem Hamed, starring Amir El-Masry and Pierce Brosnan. The launch again transformed Jeddah’s Al-Balad — the city’s UNESCO World Heritage old town — into a glamorous focal point for the region’s fast-developing film industry, as an international array of stars from the Middle East, Africa, Hollywood, Europe and Asia gathered under the festival’s banner theme, “For the Love of Cinema.”

Guests walked the carpet at Culture Square, the festival’s open-air hub, before the opening-night screening. Among those in attendance were many of the festival’s upcoming In Conversation With participants and honorees — including two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kirsten Dunst, Vin Diesel, Jessica Alba, Queen Latifah, Dakota Johnson, Ana de Armas, Riz Ahmed, Naomie Harris, Giancarlo Esposito, Uma Thurman, Rita Ora, Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Kaluuya, Nina Dobrev and Kriti Sanon — alongside industry legends such as Juliette Binoche, Sir Michael Caine, Stanley Tong and Rachid Bouchareb, who received the festival’s Red Sea Honoree Awards. They were joined by regional figures such as Saudi actors Yaqoub Alfarhan and Naif Aldaferi, Jordanian actress and producer Saba Mubarak and Egyptian stars Lebleba, Reem Sami and Yasmine Sabri, underscoring the festival’s signature mix of global and Arab talent.

Running Dec. 4–13, the 2025 festival is presenting more than 100 films from over 50 countries — a slate designed to bridge “East and West” while spotlighting Middle Eastern and African storytellers. Giant set the tone with its story of identity and migration — themes that resurface throughout the program. The main competition features 16 titles spanning Asia, Africa and the Arab world, including the world premiere of Somali debut Barni and Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen’s Hijra, the country’s official 2026 Oscar submission. Other competition highlights include Cherien Dabis’ All That’s Left of You, Akio Fujimoto’s Rohingya-language drama Lost Land and Zain Duraie’s Sink.

The night’s most emotional moment came when Michael Caine, 92, accepted his Red Sea honoree award from Vin Diesel, who introduced him as “one of the greatest actors of all time” and praised the screen legend as a devoted husband and “fellow family man.” Caine, seated in a wheelchair with three of his grandchildren standing behind him, delivered a meandering but deeply heartfelt speech that had the audience hanging on every word before rising for a standing ovation. “I was born in London, a very poor, working-class area, and I grew up to be what I am,” he said with characteristic wit. Reflecting on his 70-year career and long marriage, he added, “I’ve been married for 53 years … I have a fabulous family that I adore beyond belief, and I’ve had a fairly fabulous movie family, too.” Caine concluded with a smile: “I kept going until I was 90 … and I’m done. I’ve had all the luck you can get — and tonight is one of the biggest.”

The star-packed opening also made clear that recent controversy in the U.S. surrounding the participation of major American comedians at the recent Riyadh Comedy Festival has done little to dampen the draw, or slow the momentum, of the kingdom’s flagship film event. Despite periodic criticism of Hollywood’s growing engagement with the Gulf state, the RSIFF’s steady expansion and sustained A-list turnout suggest that Saudi Arabia’s nascent screen sector continues to gain traction as a legitimate stop on the international festival circuit.

Recent multi-Oscar-winner Sean Baker, writer and director of Anora, presides over the jury and will lead a masterclass during the festival. Addressing the crowd during the ceremony, Baker praised Saudi Arabia’s rapid transformation into a thriving film market and production hub. “To think that in five short years an ecosystem has been created to train regional talent and develop an infrastructure for local and global film production — it’s just incredible,” he said, noting the country’s 650 new cinema screens and status as the world’s fastest-growing box office. “While we are fighting to save screens in the U.S.,” he added, “hundreds of cinemas have opened here.” Baker called the festival “exciting, inspirational and heartwarming” for cinephiles and emphasized that the competition lineup — 16 titles spanning Asia, Africa and the Arab world — reflects “a place on Earth where cinema is burgeoning, growing and evolving.”

Accepting one of the evening’s Red Sea honoree awards, Juliette Binoche reflected on a career defined more by emotional than physical action and spoke of how performing has deepened her empathy as a person. “Acting helped me open my heart even more — and elevate my spirit, because I was in front of people who were very inspiring,” she said from the stage. Binoche, who recently made her directorial debut with the documentary In-I In Motion, which will screen at RSIFF, added that international festivals expand artists’ horizons: “When you’re in a jury with people from different traditions and mindsets, it opens your heart even more.”

Binoche will also participate in the first-ever “Kering | Women in Motion” panel in Jeddah, part of a new initiative spotlighting women behind and in front of the camera.

The lineup also includes powerful, regionally set dramas that have impressed at A-list festivals throughout the year — including Óliver Laxe’s Sirāt, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes and was later selected as Spain’s official Oscar submission; Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36, Palestine’s entry for Best International Feature; and The Voice of Hind Rajab, from Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, which earned the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at Venice and represents Tunisia at the Oscars.

Beyond the competition, the “International Spectacular” section will feature Alice Winocour’s Couture starring Angelina Jolie; Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin with Paul Dano and Jude Law; Mamoru Hosoda’s anime Scarlet; Rupert Wyatt’s Saudi-shot Desert Warrior; and the Spanish documentary Farruquito: A Flamenco Story. New Saudi productions — such as Haifaa Al Mansour’s thriller Unidentified and Anas Ba-Tahaf’s Jeddah-set rom-com A Matter of Life and Death — point to the Kingdom’s growing ambitions as an expanding production base.

The Red Sea Souk market opens Friday with more than 160 companies from over 45 countries registered, including senior executives from Netflix, Disney+ and others — underscoring the festival’s broadening international reach.

Now in its fifth year, RSIFF has quickly become a leading date on the Arab film calendar — a showcase that combines global visibility with Saudi Arabia’s concerted effort to build a domestic film industry. This year’s expanded lineup, robust industry turnout and deepening participation from Hollywood, Asia and beyond suggest the festival’s ambitions remain undiminished.