Paul Chesney Talks Plans For New Saudi Banners Red Palm Pictures & TwentyOne Entertainment As Well As Four-Pic Deal With ‘Norah’ Director Tawfik Alzaidi.
deadline.comFormer Universal Pictures executive Paul Chesney has been out and about this past week at the third edition of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival, running November 30 to December 9 in the port city of Jeddah.
The film and TV industry veteran, whose last position was at Universal Pictures as EVP Global Operations out of L.A., is attending in his new role as CEO of Riyadh-based production company Red Palm Pictures and sister acquisition and distribution outfit TwentyOne Entertainment.
Both entities were unveiled on the eve of the festival, with Red Palm Pictures announcing that it was kicking off its production slate with a four-picture deal with Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, whose first feature Norah world premieres in Jeddah this evening.
Red Palm Pictures and TwentyOne Entertainment are among a raft of companies being launched in Saudi Arabia as the country’s ambitions to become a major film and TV hub for the MENA region continue to ramp up in the wake of the lifting at the end of 2017 of the 35-year cinema ban.
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