- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
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- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
Saudia Arabia's growing cinema soft power
Accompanying Naomi Campbell on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last week was one of cinema's most powerful men -- and he represents a country where cinemas were banned until five years ago.
Mohammed Al Turki, 36, heads Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Foundation, his name splashed all over posters and movie credits at the world's biggest cinema gathering on the French Riviera.
The foundation, formed two years ago, holds its own annual festival and has already financed 168 movies, including eight in the official selection at Cannes this year.
Among them was festival opener "Jeanne du Barry" about a French prostitute falling in love with King Louis XV, played by Johnny Depp.
Others seemed equally at odds with traditional Saudi values -- female-focused films such as "Four Daughters" about the religious radicalisation of Tunisian girls, or "Goodbye Julia" about a Sudanese woman and her overbearing conservative husband.
"We have learned to respect other cultures," Emad Iskandar, director of the Red Sea Film Foundation, told AFP.
He said the foundation focuses on Arab and African filmmakers, though the precise definition seems flexible: the French director of "Jeanne du Barry", Maiwenn, qualified thanks to her Algerian father.
"As long as we have the resources, we want to serve the region, but also take the opportunity to learn more," Iskandar added.
Al Turki's foundation also sponsored a gala for women, attended by Catherine Deneuve, Katie Holmes and supermodel Campbell.
"MO!! Proud of all your doing @redseafilm creating history of many 1st's and Changing the narrative," Campbell wrote of Al Turki on her Instagram.
- Whitewashing? -
Saudi largesse for the arts has boomed under the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with billions pouring into previously taboo areas such as music, fashion and sports.
Human Rights Watch says this is designed to "whitewash its dismal rights record" and that, despite recent reforms, Saudi Arabia continues to repress civil society, execute dissidents, discriminate against women and bury the investigation into the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
But most Saudis back the reforms, and its officials say it is absurd to expect the kingdom to turn into a liberal paradise overnight.
Accusations of whitewashing "sadden us more than anything else," said Iskander.
"Come to visit and get to know Saudi Arabia and then talk about us. The West has arrived where it is after years of wars and debates. We are a 90-year-old state -- be patient."
In any case, the relentless PR campaign is working. The Saudi presence at Cannes felt less controversial than that of Depp, still widely branded as toxic since his court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Cannes director Thierry Fremaux celebrated the kingdom's interest in "producing films and allowing artists to emerge".
"Saudi Arabia is evolving," he told Variety.
- 'More and more present' -
All over Cannes were adverts calling on producers and directors to shoot in Saudi Arabia, while its pavilion showed off the work of its own young directors.
"Every year Saudi Arabia asks for a bigger pavilion, more facilities, to be more and more present," said Guillaume Esmiol, head of the Cannes Film Market that runs alongside the festival.
Saudi Arabia is not the only country in the region investing massively in cinema: rival Qatar financed 13 films at Cannes this year, including three in the main competition.
Some have little or no connection to the Middle East.
"We have a lot of French productions," Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Doha Film Institute CEO, told AFP.
"We don't want to be insular, we want our filmmakers to be open to other regions and other filmmakers and work with them."
She had no qualms that such investments were aimed at spreading Qatar's soft power.
"Who doesn't do that? The US does that with their Hollywood films... At least we are doing what we believe in, and we are not losing our identity at the same time."
F.Cardoso--PC