JEDDAH — Russian film producer Nadia Turincev, producer, commissioner and writer Meinolf Zurhorst and the award-winning Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah are making up the jury that will hand out two $500,000 grants to emerging filmmakers. There are 12 projects taking part in the Red Sea Lodge Residency, which is part of a training initiative to support the development of feature film projects from the Arab World. The jury will award the production grants in an online ceremony on Sept. 25. "It is with great pleasure that I accept the responsibility to be part of the jury of the Red Sea Film Lodge. I sincerely hope that this generous production grant will help Arab filmmakers and Arab cinema reach new heights," Nasrallah said. "As a commissioner for ARTE, I have overseen the development of between 200 and 300 films," said Zurhorst. "In recent years", I have been particularly enamored with the inroads made by Arab films, which makes me excited at the prospect of learning about these exciting new projects from Saudi and the Arab World." Turincev said: "The Red Sea Lodge production grant is a fantastic opportunity for Arab filmmakers to bring their projects to life, giving the world a chance to discover new emerging talents." The Red Sea Lodge Residency resumes as a digital event on the Oct. 19. The 12 projects, six from Saudi and six from the Arab World will take part in events leading up to the granting of the two production awards. The final phase of the Lodge and the awarding of the grants was due to take place at the Red Sea International Film Festival in March, which was canceled due to the global pandemic.
