Fortune USA - 11.2019

Content by the Buzz Business

SUNDANCE SALUTES AWAKENING

Q&A with Raed Alsemari

Film Director

CHANGE AGENTS

Filmmaker Raed

Alsemari has presented

his Oscar-qualified short

film Dunya’s Day at

more than 20 festivals

in the U.S. alone,

including Sundance.

Shot near Alsemari’s

hometown of Riyadh,

the film’s inventive

portrait of a dramatic

day in the life of a

contemporary Saudi

woman has surprised

and delighted audiences

around the world.

Wherever they are from, every young
director starting out in the movie business
dreams of having a film selected to
compete at the Sundance Film Festival.
To not only be selected from more than
10,000 submissions, but to go on to
win an award, is the stuff of fantasy.

Yet that is precisely what has happened
to 26-year-old Raed Alsemari. His stylish,
satirical and socially probing short film
Dunya’sDay, the very first production from
Saudi Arabia to be shown at Sundance,
picked up the prestigious Short Film Jury
Award for International Fiction in 2019.

Shot just outside Riyadh with an all-female
cast, the film tells the unforgettable story of
how spoiled rich girl Dunya aspires to throw

the perfect graduation party—until disaster

strikes when she is abandoned by her

domestic help.

As well as recognizing the talent of Alsemari,

the actors and the production crew, the

accolade from Sundance signals the

emergence of a new force in world cinema.

Long the sleeping giant of the Middle

Eastern film industry, Saudi Arabia

today is fast becoming a hotbed of artistic

expression. A decades-old ban on cinemas

has been lifted and new movie theaters

are springing up all over the country.

State bodies are now actively supporting

promising directors, designers and content

creators from all walks of life. And as

longstanding social restrictions are relaxed

Raed Alsemari with Sara Balghonaim as Dunya