The global partnership forged between Saudi Arabia‘s Film AlUla and Hollywood indie Stampede Ventures, has big dreams and a projected $350 million spend to get several productions…
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
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Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
The global partnership forged between Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla and Hollywood indie Stampede Ventures, has big dreams and a projected $350 million spend to get several productions lensed together.
As part of the Variety Lounge, presented by Film AlUla at the Red Sea Film Festival, Greg Silverman, CEO and founder of Stampede Ventures, and Charlene Deleon Jones, executive director of Film AlUla, spoke with Variety‘s executive editor of film and TV, Tatiana Siegel, about the deal between the two companies and what it signifies for future collaboration between Hollywood and Saudi Arabia.
Silverman began by discussing the ideal Saudi Arabian setting of AlUla for a potential Hollywood project, saying, “The more [the team] talked the more we realized, ‘this is kind of a magic place and magic moment.'”
“It’s one of the most extraordinary places,” said Jones, praising AlUla. “We were super pleased to be partnering with Greg and Stampede Ventures because of the caliber of the team, and they’ve been so incredibly easy to work with as well.”
For Silverman, it was necessary to recognize the important and, for Hollywood executives, often underrated resources of the country.
“People back home don’t know very much about Saudi Arabia and the hard part is until they come and really experience it, they won’t understand the magic and especially the enthusiasm of this young generation for film. It’s really beautiful, and it’s inspiring my whole company,” emphasized Silverman.
On the other end of things, the partnership between Stampede and Film AlUla presents clear benefits both parties. For Stampede, it’s the beautiful settings. For Film AlUla, it’s the amount of veteran resources and knowledge that comes from Hollywood history.
Asked about the goals of the Saudi Arabian film industry, Jones said, “Anywhere with the film industry is no longer just film, right, so you’re seeing an intersection of lots of other types of media come in … I think really what the focus is from an industry perspective is to learn best, best practice. “
“The Hollywood film industry is very established, right, so even in terms of how financing and how legal aspects are done, there’s a lot of retention too,” Jones added. “Like what’s happening there, how does that translate to Saudi Arabia, how can we build on that … how do we bring people from Hollywood into Saudi to teach as well?
“I think really there’s a genuine aspect of excitement around, ‘there’s now going to be a film industry here, let’s collaborate with the very best,'” she concluded.
Watch the full conversation above.