U.S. Ambassador in Saudi Arabia on the Country’s ‘Extraordinary Explosion in the Cultural Space’
variety.comNick Holdsworth International producers can count on help from the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of an “extraordinary explosion” in culture and film, U.S Ambassador Michael Ratney told Variety during the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival.
He said the ambition and drive of the Saudi film industry was an opportunity for international talent. “These last five years have seen just an extraordinary explosion in the cultural space, using film, arts of all sorts,” Ratney said.
Coupled with what he dubbed “a defining characteristic of Saudi Arabia, which is extraordinary ambition,” the development of a domestic film industry keen to attract international film productions was creating opportunities not seen before. “For us, as the U.S.
Embassy, as the U.S. government, it presents opportunities. There are film industries all over the world — and here [at the festival] we have a lot of Americans from the U.S.
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