The Red Sea Film Foundation selected 30 projects from 916 submissions across its first two 2026 funding cycles, 17 in production and 13 in post-production, according to the foundation. Several of its earlier picks have already won at major festivals, including Rwanda’s Ben’imana and India’s Angh.
Updated 07:08 CET, 26 October 2026: adds the cycle breakdown, the festival wins, the fund’s terms, and the postponement of the 2026 Red Sea festival to 2027.
Key facts
- The Red Sea Film Foundation backed 30 of 916 applicants across two cycles: 696 submissions and 17 selections in production, 220 and 13 in post-production.
- Five Saudi titles are among the production selections, including Remind Me to Forget and Maria’s Mansion.
- Earlier Cycle 1 titles won at Cannes (Ben’imana, Caméra d’Or) and Toronto (Angh, Platform Award), with others at Venice and Locarno.
- Fund grants run up to about $500,000 for production and $100,000 for post, some recoupable case by case.
- The 2026 Red Sea festival, due 3–12 December in Jeddah, is postponed to late 2027; the Fund and Labs continue.
A grant list doubles as a discovery list, and this one is already paying out in festival terms. The post-production cycle drew 220 submissions, which the foundation says was its largest for that stage, and the production cycle drew 696. Among the earlier titles it supported, Ben’imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo won the Caméra d’Or in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Angh by Theja Rio took the Platform Award in Toronto, and others played Venice and Locarno. For buyers and programmers, that record turns a financing announcement into a watchlist of cross-border projects before each has its own sales headline.
The new selections widen the map. Five Saudi titles sit among the production picks, including Remind Me to Forget by Lama Jamjoom and Maria’s Mansion by Raed Alsemari, alongside projects from Arab, African and Asian directors eligible under the fund’s terms. Those terms are public: the foundation, led by chief executive Faisal Baltyuor, offers development grants up to about $25,000, production support up to about $500,000 and post-production up to about $100,000, with some production grants recoupable depending on the project.
One piece of context the original post could not include: the festival around the fund has moved. The National reported on 21 September that the sixth Red Sea International Film Festival, scheduled for 3–12 December 2026 in Jeddah, is postponed to the fourth quarter of 2027, with no 2026 edition; submission and accreditation fees are refundable, and the Red Sea Souk market moves with it. The foundation did not tie the decision to regional conflict. The Fund and Labs continue through the gap, and Culture Square in historic Jeddah begins year-round programming from November 2026.
The fund also connects to our other coverage. Seo Su-bin, whose film we covered in The World of Love’s Japanese release, won best actress at the fifth Red Sea festival; the financing questions here echo those in France’s 2027 budget fight; and the distribution thread runs through who is actually taking films to audiences.
Our reading
For a programmer or sales agent, the selection list is the asset, not the festival’s calendar. A fund that can point to a Caméra d’Or and a Platform Award in the same year has a credible pipeline, and its new picks are worth logging now. The postponement is the risk to weigh against it: a backed film loses its most obvious launch platform for a year, so the question to ask of each title is where it premieres instead. The fund’s money is only half the route to an audience; the other half is a festival slot, and that is the part now in flux.