The long read · Saudi cinema
The Rise of Saudi Cinema and Its New Stars
Saudi cinema is one of the youngest and fastest-growing in the world. Here is the story, from Haifaa al-Mansour’s Wadjda to the first Saudi film at Cannes, and where to watch in Riyadh.
Updated October 2026
From Wadjda to the Red Sea
For some 35 years Saudi Arabia had no public cinemas, and its film-makers worked in short films and on television. In 2012 Haifaa al-Mansour’s Wadjda, the story of a girl who longs for a bicycle, became the first feature shot entirely in the Kingdom; it premiered in Venice and was the country’s first entry for the Oscars.
In April 2018 the first new cinema opened in Riyadh, and screens soon spread across the country. The Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, first held in December 2021, now funds and launches new Saudi and Arab films, and in 2024 Tawfik Alzaidi’s Norah, shot in AlUla, became the first Saudi film selected for Cannes.
Must-watch films
To understand the new Saudi cinema, start with these.
- Wadjda (2012): Haifaa al-Mansour’s warm story of a Riyadh schoolgirl and her green bicycle.
- Barakah Meets Barakah (2016): Mahmoud Sabbagh’s romantic comedy set in Jeddah, shown at the Berlinale.
- The Perfect Candidate (2019): al-Mansour’s drama of a young doctor who stands for her local council, in competition at Venice.
- Norah (2024): Tawfik Alzaidi’s tale of a village girl and a painter in the 1990s, special mention at Cannes.
The names to know
A new generation is putting Saudi stories on the world’s screens.
- Haifaa al-Mansour: widely described as the Kingdom’s first woman film director, maker of Wadjda and Mary Shelley.
- Mahmoud Sabbagh: director of Barakah Meets Barakah.
- Hisham Fageeh and Fatima Al-Banawi: the comic stars of Barakah Meets Barakah; Al-Banawi now directs too.
- Tawfik Alzaidi: director of Norah, the first Saudi film at Cannes.
Where to watch in Riyadh
The first new cinema in the Kingdom opened in April 2018 in the King Abdullah Financial District, and today Riyadh has many modern multiplexes in its malls and entertainment districts, showing Saudi, Arab, Indian and Hollywood films. For new Saudi cinema, the Red Sea festival in Jeddah each December is the place to be.
Our advice: see a new Saudi film in Riyadh, then look for the Red Sea festival’s selections.
King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD)
Saudi Arabia on location
The Kingdom’s landscapes are now drawing international productions. Kandahar (2023), with Gerard Butler, was shot in AlUla and Jeddah, the first major American production in AlUla, where the sandstone canyons stood in for Afghanistan. Read our Egyptian and Emirati long reads for the wider story of Arab cinema.
Questions and answers
When did cinemas reopen in Saudi Arabia?
The first new cinema opened in Riyadh on 18 April 2018, in the King Abdullah Financial District.
What was the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia?
Wadjda (2012), by Haifaa al-Mansour.
Join the conversation
Which Saudi film do you love most? Share your favourite scenes and the films we should add.
- Loading the conversation…
Sources: the Red Sea Film Foundation, the Festival de Cannes, La Biennale di Venezia, the Berlinale and contemporary reports of the 2018 reopening, checked on 6 November 2026. The trailers are from Sony Pictures Classics’ and Nour Films’ official channels.