His Highness the Minister of Culture appoints Engineer Abdullah Al Ayaf Al-Qahtani as CEO of the Film Authority

His Highness Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Culture, issued a decree appointing Engineer Abdullah bin Nasser Al Ayaf Al-Qahtani as CEO of the Film Authority concerned with developing the film industry in the Kingdom, which comes within 11 new cultural bodies recently launched by the Ministry of Culture to manage the Saudi cultural sector in various His directions. Engineer Abdullah Al Ayaf Al-Qahtani is considered one of the leading names in the Saudi film industry and has worked as a director, producer and writer for many distinguished local works since 2004 AD, as well as chaired arbitration committees in local and regional film festivals, and wrote critical film articles in the most prominent Saudi newspapers such as Riyadh, the homeland and the Middle East . Al-Qahtani, who graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2001 AD, led the program and events team in the Saudi Pavilion in Expo 2020, and also managed programs and initiatives at the King Abdulaziz Center for International Culture (Ithraa) for three years along with a number of leadership positions in Saudi Aramco, including chairing the advertising and technical production, events and conferences departments. The Film Authority will regulate the film industry in the Kingdom through several major roles, including setting a comprehensive strategy for the film sector and developing the production environment to be able to manufacture Saudi films with high production standards that allow them to be marketed locally and internationally, with the related support and empowerment of local talents in various specialties of the film industry. Encouraging the investment, production and development of cinematic content, providing training courses and professional programs, issuing licenses for activities related to the field, in addition to developing systems to protect intellectual property rights for films, and other roles that, as a whole, aim to raise the local film industry to a level that befits the Kingdom's position and international standards. It is recognized, in implementation of the comprehensive cultural advancement project managed by the Ministry of Culture, and in fulfillment of the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 aimed at transforming cultural activity into a sustainable and productive field.

December 28, 2020 - 12:00