Charlene Deleon-Jones, executive director of Film Alula, joined Variety’s Nick Vivarelli for a conversation about the growing presence of film in Saudi Arabia including Alula, which has already hosted several shoots including “Cherry,” “House of Dragons,” and “Kandahar.”
Saudi Arabia is a swiftly expanding film destination. As film is a generally new industry in Saudi Arabia, the country is justly expanding its infrastructure to sustain new projects. After being approached to create a business model for the development of studios in the country, Deleon-Jones says they are now a year into the process. “The biggest change is awareness and infrastructure,” said Deleon-Jones at The American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival.
“The first two stages [of the plan] are almost complete,” said Deleon-Jones. “We have paid really close attention to [the] technical build of [the] stages so that we see that [they] actually work really well.”
Ensuring that crew members will be available onsite for various film projects is also something that Deleon-Jones says is kicking off smoothly.
“We have the very beautiful ability to turn around visas very quickly,” said Deleon-Jones. “In the summer I have a crew of 100 people from Mexico coming in for [a] film. So we’re not necessarily active about where [the] crew had come from, [but] we [recognize] that there’s also space to meaningfully involve Saudi crew who are established and trained as well.”
Deleon-Jones isn’t just focused on the stages alone, “The other really important thing, because we are in the desert, is what are the surrounding facilities and support that you need,” she explained. Expanding on their larger plan for a communal experience for those filming.
Watch the full conversation above.
