Red Sea Film Festival announces 40 titles for 2025 Souk Project Market

The Red Sea Film Festival has announced the lineup for its upcoming Souk Project Market, unveiling 40 selected titles from filmmakers across the Arab world, Asia, and Africa. The 2025 edition will feature works from acclaimed directors such as Palestine’s Maha Haj, Lebanon’s Wissam Charaf, Sudan’s Mohamed Kordofani, and China’s Jing Zou.

Held in December, the Souk Project Market serves as a key platform to foster international co-productions and spotlight emerging talent. This year’s selection includes 24 projects in development, eight works-in-progress, and eight episodic series. Twelve of the development titles were incubated through the Red Sea Labs Feature Film Program, organized in partnership with Torino Film Lab and sponsored by Film Alula, while the remaining projects will receive pitch mentoring from producer Anna Katchko, script consultant David Pope, and sales agent Gabor Greiner.

Among the highlights, Maha Haj, whose Mediterranean Fever represented Palestine at the 2023 Oscars, will present her new drama Playhouse. Mohamed Kordofani, whose Goodbye Julia became the first Sudanese film to premiere at Cannes, brings About Love and September Laws. Senegal’s Mamadou Dia returns with Coumba, following a detective investigating a murder linked to a mythical hoofed spirit. Lebanese filmmaker Wissam Charaf will present Holiday, a 1986-set coming-of-age drama about a family forced to flee West Beirut during the civil war.

From Nigeria, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi will screen a first look at La Pyramide, his latest work-in-progress after Mami Wata was chosen as the country’s 2024 Oscar entry. Expanding its reach to Asia, this year’s market also features Chinese filmmaker Jing Zou’s A Girl Unknown, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week’s Next Step initiative in 2024.

The festival reported that 35% of this year’s selected projects originate from Asia, reflecting its growing inclusivity since submissions were opened to the region in 2024. Eighteen debut features are represented, with over 42% of the projects helmed by female filmmakers. Returning alumni include Arvin Belarmino, Charaf, and Shokir Kholikov, each bringing new work to the Souk.

“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,” said Red Sea Souk Director Holly Daniel. “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,” added Daniel.  

Daniel added that the 2025 lineup “is diverse, creative and powerful and provides huge opportunities for development,” noting the team’s excitement to connect filmmakers with new partners at the festival’s fifth edition in December.

All selected projects will compete for the Red Sea Souk Awards supported by the Red Sea Fund, alongside prizes from additional 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  

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