Upcoming films from Palestinian director Maha Haj, Lebanese director Wissam Charaf, Sudanese breakout Mohamed Kordofani and Chinese writer and director Jing Zou are among 40 titles selected for the upcoming edition of the Red Sea Film Festival’s Souk Project Market.
The platform taking place within the framework of the festival in December is designed to bolster international co-productions and grant access to new projects and talent from across the Arab World, Asia and Africa.
It will showcase 24 Projects in Development, eight Works-In-Progress and eight Episodic Series. Twelve of the 24 projects in development or production have been developed by the Red Sea Labs over the year as part of the Feature Film Program. This program is in partnership with Torino Film Lab and sponsored by Film Alula.
The remaining 12 projects will receive pitch mentoring from Producer Anna Katchko, Script Consultant David Pope and Sales Agent Gabor Greiner.
Haj, whose last film Mediterranean Fever was Palestine’s 2023 Oscar entry and won best screenplay in Cannes Un Certain Regard, will present drama Playhouse; while Kordofani, who broke out internationally in 2023 with Goodbye Julia as the first Sudanese film to play in Cannes, will unveil About Love And September Laws.
Senegal’s Mamadou Dia, who previously made waves with Nafi’s Father and Demba, attends with Coumba, following a detective returning to her hometown to investigate a murder tied to a hoofed spirit.
Charaf, who was at the Red Sea Festival with Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous in 2022, will present coming-of-age 1986 drama Holiday, about a boy whose family is forced to flee its home in West Beirut to stay with relatives in Southen Lebanon.
Obasi, whose film Mami Wata was Nigeria’s 2024 Oscar entry, will give a sneak peak of his new film La Pyramide, which is one of eight Works in Progress titles and was at the project market last year while still in development.
Following 2024’s opening of submissions to filmmakers across Asia for the first time, this year the proportion of selected projects from the region has grown to 35%.
They include Chinese writer and director Jing Zou’s feature film project A Girl Unknown which won the top prize at the Next Step initiative of Cannes Critics’ Week in 2024, and has been selected the work in progress section.
In further stats, the market revealed 18 filmmakers have had their debut features selected, and over 42% of the projects are created by female filmmakers.
Alumni returning to the Souk with new projects this year are Arvin Belarmino, Charaf and Shokir Kholikov, who have previously screened titles as part of the Red Sea International Film Festival,
The platform received 1,900 applications were received across the Red Sea Souk and Labs for their 2025 editions.
“Our Souk Project Market is a vital part of the Red Sea Film Foundation’s ecosystem – acting as a vibrant hub for new voices to collaborate on innovative projects and ideas. Celebrating a five-year arc of this programme also means we are welcoming back previous alumni with new work, which is a mark of the growing legacy of the Souk,” Holly Daniel, Red Sea Souk Director.
This year’s selection of titles is diverse, creative and powerful and provide huge opportunities for development, and we’re looking forward to introducing them to new potential industry partners at the fifth edition of the Festival in December.”
All selected projects will be considered for the Red Sea Souk Awards provided by the Red Sea Fund, alongside a number of award partners to be announced soon.
The 2025 Red Sea Souk Selection
Projects-in-Development and Production:
A NOBLE DEATH
by Dalia Baeshen
Debut, Fiction
Saudi Arabia
A TIME TO WANDER
by Rim Nakhli
Debut, Fiction
Tunisia
ABOUT LOVE AND SEPTEMBER LAWS
by Mohamed Kordofani
Fiction
Sudan, France, Germany, Sweden
COLD ASHES CAN CAUSE FOREST FIRES
by Ashmita Guha Neogi
Debut, Fiction
France, India
COUMBA
by Mamadou Dia
Fiction
Senegal, France
DHEL
by Dania Altayeb
Debut, Fiction
Saudi Arabia
DIAPHANOUS
by Dornaz Hajiha
Fiction
Iran, Hong Kong, France, Norway, Mexico
FICTION
by Anocha Suwichakornpong
Creative Documentary
Thailand
GREEN CORPSE
by Khaled Zidan
Debut, Fiction
Saudi Arabia
HOLIDAY
by Wissam Charaf
Fiction
France, Lebanon, Italy
INFIDELS
by Eli Jean Tahchi
Debut, Fiction
Lebanon, Canada
LEG
by Shokir Kholikov
Fiction
Kazakhstan, Italy
NKANAI
by Bruno Tanya
Debut, Fiction
Kenya
PHILAX by Ruken Tekes
Debut, Fiction
Turkey, Italy, Greece.
PLAYHOUSE
by Maha Haj
Fiction
Palestine, Germany, France, Cyprus
POSITIVE
by Hanaa Saleh Alfassi
Debut, Fiction
Saudi Arabia
PRICE OF EVIL
by Ibrahim Mursal
Debut, Fiction
Sudan, Norway
SALMA AND THE MOON AND THE STARS
by Maram Taibah
Debut, Fiction
Saudi Arabia
SPACEMAN IN KONGO
by Maisha Maene
Debut, Creative Documentary
Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Kingdom, Germany
STREET EDUCATION
by Yaser B.
Fiction
Saudi Arabia
THE DAUGHTER
by Tian Guan
Debut, Fiction
China, Taiwan, France
TO CATCH A FALLING SKY
by Cheta Chukwu
Fiction
Nigeria, United Kingdom
UNHOLY
by Mohammad Reza Fahriyansyah
Fiction
Indonesia
VEIL WHISPERER
by Iris Lanhua Ma
Fiction
China
Works-in-Progress
A GIRL UNKNOWN
by Jing Zou
Debut, Fiction
China, France
A MOON FOR EVERY RIVER
by You Gu
Debut, Fiction
China, France
BENIMANA
by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
Debut, Fiction
Rwanda, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Norway
LA PYRAMIDE
by Cj ‘Fiery’ Obasi
Fiction
Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States of America, Senegal, Brazil
RIA
by Arvin Belarmino
Debut, Fiction
Philippines, Norway, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan
THE LAST DAYS OF RM
by Amin Sidi-Boumédiène
Fiction
France, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar
THE PRODIGAL SON
by Rani Massalha
Fiction
Tunisia, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Qatar
YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN’T SLEEP
by Rakan Mayasi
Debut, Fiction
Belgium, Palestine, Lebanon
SeriesLab:
DÉRIFT
by Zahra Zuhair
Saudi Arabia
FLASH
by Sooyoung Kim
South Korea
FLYWEIGHTS
by Eldar Shibanov
Kazakhstan
MAD BOUNTY AND THE MIDNIGHT GUN
by Talemwa Pius
Uganda
MONEY TOWN
by Tony Koros
Kenya
SIDE EFFECTS
by Hind Metwalli
Egypt
SOCIETY
by Sushant Nagpal
India
TILL DEATH DO US PART
by Tomi Folowosele
Nigeria
