From 26 June to 2 July, the 12th Saudi Film Festival was held to great acclaim at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. This edition marked the first time the festival mounted an official showcase spotlighting Korean independent features and short films, drawing keen interest from local filmmakers and audiences alike. The correspondent visited the festival in person, covering the screenings, audience talks, the official dinner and the networking programme, exchanging views with local film professionals and observing how Saudi audiences responded to Korean cinema.
The Ithra centre, host venue of the Saudi Film Festival — Source: photo by the correspondent
The Saudi Film Festival packed with visitors — Source: photo by the correspondent
This year's festival featured a special "Spotlight on Korean Cinema" section, organised in collaboration between the Busan International Short Film Festival and the Saudi Film Festival. Korean film posters displayed throughout the venue caught visitors' eyes and heightened the atmosphere of the Korean showcase.
Korean film posters displayed at the Saudi Film Festival venue, with Halo director Roh Young-wan and actor Choi Kang-hyun — Source: photo by the correspondent
The Feature Halo: First Screening and Audience Talk
On 27 June, following the screening of the feature film Halo, an audience-talk programme was held with director Roh Young-wan and actor Choi Kang-hyun in attendance. Roh explained that he found the film's starting point in a stark reality: even as Korea has advanced dramatically in economic terms and raised its cultural standing through the Korean Wave, it has the highest youth suicide rate among OECD member states. Saudi audiences remarked that the protagonist, Min-jun, seemed almost to accept or even relish his suffering as he silently endured extreme hardship, and asked why he did not try to escape his situation. Roh replied, "There really are many young Koreans living amid this kind of suffering; it is a reality that is not unfamiliar in Korea." Because the work confronts the realities faced by young people in Korean society head-on, a wide range of questions followed from Saudi audiences of a different cultural background.
A local Saudi audience member asking a question at the Halo audience talk — Source: photo by the correspondent
Asked about what he shares with his character and how he approached the role, Choi Kang-hyun, who plays Min-jun, said, "I tried to experience the character's life directly — sleeping in a car myself, working delivery jobs and so on," adding that he "lost 8 kg for the role." Questions also came from Korean residents living in Saudi Arabia. One in particular concerned the contents of "The Saviour," a screenplay written by Min-jun, who dreams of becoming a film director. Roh answered wittily that "Min-jun is a character who desperately needs salvation," and that "I am preparing my next project right now, and I came to Saudi Arabia to find that 'saviour'" — drawing laughter from the audience. A viewer from Europe praised the film as "far more accomplished than I expected," noting that "even on a small budget, the message it set out to convey was effectively realised through the mise-en-scène." He went on to commend how "the long takes and handheld camerawork, free of elaborate sets or devices, let us follow the characters' emotions and circumstances realistically, and the pared-back use of music conveyed poverty and pain all the more soberly."
Asked about the meaning of the title Halo, Roh explained that "'Halo' is a title that carries the wish for audiences to gaze fully upon the figure seen from behind." He added that, rather than offering a fixed interpretation of the ending, he wanted to leave it to each viewer's own reading.
The Shorts Programme and Local Audience Response
At the shorts programme held that same evening, a total of four films were screened, including Majunagi, A Dance That Speaks, Baby! and Dark Cloud Memories. Two audience members met on site, Hisham and Baha, work in the animation industry and said they had come to the screening especially to see the Korean animated short Dark Cloud Memories. Baha said he had previously worked at Manga Arabia's Tokyo office and now runs his own animation studio. Hisham said he is a regular fan of Korean film and had eagerly awaited this showcase. The two showed strong interest in submitting work to the Busan International Short Film Festival and expressed an active desire to explore collaboration with Korean creators.
Local audience members Baha and Hisham sharing their impressions after the Korean shorts screening — Source: photo by the correspondent
Widening Korea–Saudi Film Exchange
For this "Spotlight on Korean Cinema," director Roh Young-wan, actor Choi Kang-hyun, and Lee Sang-hoon — deputy chair and artistic director of the Busan International Short Film Festival — were invited as official guests of the Saudi Film Festival, the first Korean film professionals to be so honoured, and took part in a variety of official programmes. At the festival's official dinner and networking programme, which the correspondent attended, Korean filmmakers and Saudi film professionals could be seen mingling energetically. In particular, representatives of major institutions including MBC Academy, the Red Sea International Film Festival and Film AlUla visited the film-industry and government booths set up at Ithra, showing strong interest in Korea's film-production environment and independent-film ecosystem, and in avenues for future cooperation and joint projects.
At the festival's official dinner (from left): director Roh Young-wan, an interpreter, festival staff member Naoures, actor Choi Kang-hyun, Lee Sang-hoon, deputy chair of the Busan International Short Film Festival, and the correspondent — Source: photo by the correspondent
MBC Academy representatives with the invited Korean film guests, the correspondent and an interpreter — Source: photo by the correspondent
Separately, the attendance of Kang Shin-chul, the Korean Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, drew local attention. Through its official social media, the Saudi Film Festival described Korea's official presence — represented by Ambassador Kang — as meaningful in making the festival a space for cultural dialogue and for exchange and shared experience through cinema.
At the festival, Ambassador Kang met with those behind the Korean showcase to reflect together on the significance of introducing Korean film to Saudi Arabia, and exchanged views on expanding cultural exchange and cooperation in the film industry between the two countries. He also attended the Korean showcase screenings and festival programmes in person, engaging actively with those on the ground and conversing naturally with the Korean filmmakers, together affirming the importance of deepening bilateral cultural exchange and film-industry cooperation.
Kang Shin-chul, Korean Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, visiting the Saudi Film Festival — Source: Saudi Film Festival official Instagram (@saudifilmfestival)
The Saudi film professionals met on site showed keen interest in Korean cinema, in how the festival is run and in production conditions, and in many corners could be seen discussing possibilities for future cooperation with Korean filmmakers. This "Spotlight on Korean Cinema" did more than introduce the broad spectrum of Korean independent features and shorts to Saudi audiences; it became an occasion for filmmakers from both countries to meet and exchange in person, confirming the real potential for practical cooperation between the two film industries — from co-production to festival partnerships.
