{"id":1202,"date":"2021-01-13T09:54:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T09:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2021-01-13T10:09:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T10:09:31","slug":"red-sea-international-film-festival-to-open-with-world-premiere-of-saudi-feature-film-shams-al-maaref-the-book-of-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/red-sea-international-film-festival-to-open-with-world-premiere-of-saudi-feature-film-shams-al-maaref-the-book-of-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sea International Film Festival to open with World Premiere of Saudi feature film \u201cShams al-Maaref\u201d (The Book of Sun)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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February 16, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The Red Sea International Film Festival will open in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 12, 2020, with the world premiere of the Saudi feature film\u00a0<\/span>\u201cShams al-Maaref\u201d (The Book of Sun)\u201d<\/span><\/b>,\u00a0<\/span>directed by the\u00a0Godus\u00a0Brothers<\/span>. The film will also compete\u00a0<\/span>in the Festival\u2019s IN COMPETITION category.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Directed by Faris\u00a0Godus, produced and starring his brother Suhaib,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cShams al-Maaref\u201d (The Book of Sun)\u00a0<\/span><\/b>captures the spirit of a generation whose lives were transformed by the internet. Set in 2010, high school senior Husam (Baraa Alem) finds himself drawn into the world of video production, an obsession that takes his focus away from the ordinary pursuits of high school and teenage life. His best friend Maan (Ismail Alhasan), their one-time foe Ibrahim (Ahmed Saddam), and teacher Orabi (Sohayb\u00a0Godus) also become preoccupied with the online world and the possibility of a medium that comes to represent freedom to them.\u00a0 The group set out to produce a no-budget horror movie \u2013 a wild adventure of self-expression and creativity\u00a0<\/span>that their families believe<\/span>\u00a0will put their futures at risk.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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The\u00a0Godus\u00a0Brothers<\/span>\u00a0came to fame through their efforts in projects such as\u00a0Telfaz\u00a011 and their acclaimed short film \u201cDepressing Scene\u201d (2016) and the Saudi Ramadan TV series \u201cAnother Planet\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>The Red Sea Film Festival Foundation supported the film,<\/span>\u00a0bestowing a $500,000 production grant via the\u00a0<\/span>Tamheed Fund<\/span><\/b>, a one-time award for emerging Saudi filmmakers. The film is one of a number backed by the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation\u2019s broad slate of grants and funds.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Festival Director Mahmoud Sabbagh commented: \u201cAn insider\u2019s look at the origins of new cinema in Saudi Arabia,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cShams al-Maaref\u201d (The Book of Sun)<\/span><\/b>\u00a0is a fitting opening to the Kingdom\u2019s first-ever international film festival. The\u00a0Godus\u00a0brothers have created a testament to the passionate community of pioneering filmmakers, who have inspired and drive Saudi cinema culture.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 16, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |\u00a0The Red Sea International Film Festival will open in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 12, 2020, with the world premiere of the Saudi feature film\u00a0\u201cShams al-Maaref\u201d (The Book of Sun)\u201d,\u00a0directed by the\u00a0Godus\u00a0Brothers. The film will also compete\u00a0in the Festival\u2019s IN COMPETITION category. Directed by Faris\u00a0Godus, produced and starring his brother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redseafilmfest.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}