Several alumni of New York Film Academy (NYFA) had their work showcased at this year’s prestigious Saudi Film Festival, including two of the fest’s winners.
The Saudi Film Festival celebrated its fifth year running and opened at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran, kicking off a six-day schedule aimed to discover and nurture talented filmmakers from the Middle East, and help them build connections within the larger film industry.
By the end of the week, multiple NYFA alumni showed off their work, and two came away with prizes. New York Film Academy BFA Filmmaking alum Yasser Hammad won Best Produced Script for Im Death, while 1-Week Workshop alum Mohammed Al Salman’s film Curtain picked up a Best Actress award for its lead. Hammad previously made headlines this year for Roll’em, the feature he wrote that became the first Saudi film to screen in a professional theatre in Jeddah.
Additionally, 2-Day workshop alum Mohammed Barajah’s film was an Official Selection, as well as BFA Filmmaking alum Abdullah Bamjaboor’s film Maryam, alum Musab Alamri’s film Co-Existence, and 1-Week Filmmaking workshop Mansour Assad’s film Soul: Room.
1-Week workshop alum Khalid Fahad’s film The Investor also screened at the festival. Fahad first found filmmaking to be an enjoyable hobby, before attending NYFA and discovering he wanted the art form to be his profession as well.
“As an independent filmmaker I found my course at NYFA very suitable to my needs,” Fahad tells NYFA. “Knowing all film process and managing all crew departments couldn’t be easy without taking NYFA courses—I still use NYFA sheets for doing shot lists, storyboards, breakdown sheets, and more.”
Alumni weren’t the only members of the NYFA community to be a part of this year’s Saudi Film Festival—former NYFA guest speaker Mohammed Al Turki hosted a panelist at this year’s fest.
New York Film Academy congratulates the NYFA alumni showcased at this year’s Saudi Film Festival and looks forward as always to next year’s event!