About-Souk

Source: RSIFF

The Red Sea Souk market floor

New films from CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi and Maha Haj are among the 40 projects in the Red Sea Souk Project Market, the co-production platform of Red Sea International Film Festival (December 4-13).

The selection consists of 24 projects at development and production stage; eight works-in-progress titles; and eight series titles developed through the Red Sea Labs – SeriesLab.

Scroll down for the list of projects

Nigerian filmmaker Obasi participates in the work-in-progress strand with La Pyramide, a Nigeria-UK-US-Senegal-Brazil co-production. The film is a thriller that has the extended title La Pyramide: A Celebration Of Dark Bodies, and began filming in Brazil earlier this month. It participated in last year’s Red Sea Souk as a development title.

Obasi’s previous features include Mami Wata, which launched at Sundance 2023 and was Nigeria’s international feature Oscar entry.

Palestinian filmmaker Haj is participating in the projects in development and production strand with Palestine-Germany-France-Cyprus co-production Playhouse, a fiction feature. It is the director’s third feature after 2016’s Personal Affairs and 2022’s Mediterranean Fever, both of which debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Other filmmakers with projects in the market include Mohamed Kordofani with About Love And September Laws, after his debut Goodbye Julia became the first Sudanese film ever to play Cannes in 2023; and Mamadou Dia, Senegalese director of Oscar entries Nafi’s Father and Demba, with new title Coumba.

The market opened to projects from across Asia for the first time in 2024, with 35% of the selected titles now coming from the continent; 42% of the titles come from female filmmakers. In total, 1900 applications were received across the Souk and Labs.

12 of the development or production titles have been developed by the Red Sea Labs through its feature film programme, in partnership with TorinoFilmLab and backed by Film Alula. The other 12 titles in that section will receive pitch mentoring from producer Anna Katchko, script consultant David Pope and Gabor Greiner, sales agent at Films Boutique.

Last year’s Red Sea Souk presented over $900,000 in prizes, including a $75,000 production award.

“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 Holly Daniel, director of the Red Sea Souk. “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.”

Red Sea Souk Project Market 2025

Projects-in-development and production

A Noble Death (S Arabia) dir. Dalia Baeshen

A Time To Wander (Tun) dir. Rim Nakhli

About Love And September Laws (Sud-Fr-Ger-Swe) dir. Mohamed Kordofani

Cold Ashes Can Cause Forest Fires (Fr-India) dir. Ashmita Guha Neogi

Coumba (Sen-Fr) dir. Mamadou Dia

Dhel (S Arabia) dir. Dania Altayeb

Diaphanous (Iran-HK-Fr-Nor-Mex) dir. Dornaz Hajiha

Fiction (Thai) dir. Anocha Suwichakornpong

Green Corpse (S Arabia) dir. Khaled Zidan

Holiday (Fr-Leb-It) dir. Wissam Charaf

Infidels (Leb-Can) dir. Eli Jean Tahchi

Leg (Kaz-It) dir. Shokir Kholikov

Nkanai (Ken) dir. Bruno Tanya

Philax (Tur-It-Gr) dir. Ruken Tekes

Playhouse (Pal-Ger-Fr-Cyp) dir. Maha Haj

Positive (S Arabia) dir. Hanaa Saleh Alfassi

Price Of Evil (Sud-Nor) dir. Ibrahim Mursal

Salma And The Moon And The Stars (S Arabia) dir. Maram Taibah

Spaceman In Kongo (Con-UK-Ger) dir. Maisha Maene

Street Education (S Arabia) dir. Yaser B.

The Daughter (China-Tai-Fr) dir. Tian Guan

To Catch A Falling Sky (Nigeria-UK) dir. Cheta Chukwu

Unholy (Indonesia) dir. Mohammad Reza Fahriyansyah

Veil Whisperer (China) dir. Iris Lanhua Ma

Works-in-progress

A Girl Unknown (China-Fr) dir. Jing Zou

A Moon For Every River (China-Fr) dir. You Gu

Benimana (Rwa-Gab-Ivo-Fr-Nor) dir. Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo

La Pyramide (Nigeria-UK-US-Sen-Braz) dir. CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi

RIA (Phi-Nor-Sing-S Arabia-Jap) dir. Arvin Belarmino

The Last Days Of RM (Fr-Alg-S Arabia-Qat) dir. Amin Sidi-Boumediene

The Prodigal Son (Tun-Fr-Egy-S Arabia-Bel-Qat) dir. Rani Massalha

Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep (Bel-Pal-Leb) dir. Rakan Mayasi

SeriesLab

Derift (S Arabia) cre. Zahra Zuhair

Flash (S Kor) cre. Sooyoung Kim

Flyweights (Kaz) cre. Eldar Shibanov

Mad Bounty And The Midnight Gun (Ug) cre. Talemwa Pius

Money Town (Ken) cre. Tony Koros

Side Effects (Egy) cre. Hind Metwalli

Society (India) cre. Sushant Nagpal

Till Death Do Us Part (Nigeria) cre. Tomi Folowosele

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