Indian director Muzaffar Ali’s 1981 classic “Umrao Jaan” has been newly restored and will be screened abroad for the first time at the upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. The Red Sea International Film Festival has announced the lineup of its “Hidden Treasures” series, dedicated to six classic international and Arab films.
“Umrao Jaan”, set in 19th century Lucknow and starring superstar Rekha as the Indian National Film Award-winning prostitute-poet, has been restored by the National Film Development Corporation of India and the National Film Archive of India under the National Film Heritage Mission.
Other titles in the Treasures category include Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 psychological thriller Spellbound, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, which will be the first entry in Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation’s Red Sea Festival, which aims to preserve global cinema. And Luc Besson’s 1988 cult diving blockbuster The Big Blue made its screen debut in Saudi Arabia. In the festival’s first-ever silent film spectacle, British silent film music specialist Neil Brand will provide live accompaniment to three silent slapstick shorts by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy.
The Treasures series will also feature two films by Egyptian director Ahmed Badrakhan, both starring Egyptian singer and actress Umm Kultum, an international icon considered the greatest singer in the Arab world. Badrakhan’s Aida (1942) and Song of Hope (1937), recently restored by the Red Sea Film Foundation and Egypt’s Media City, will be shown for the first time in 4K restored copies at the Red Sea Festival.
“This year’s Treasures lineup spotlights true legends in cinema, bringing immortal moments and performances from the film canon to life for local and international audiences,” Faisal Baltuoğlu, CEO of Red Sea Film Foundation, said in a statement. “The selected titles all broke new ground with their original releases, and we are particularly honored to have contributed to the restoration of two of Umm Kultum’s most memorable performances as part of our continued commitment to bringing the best of cinema to Saudi Arabia.”
The festival, in its fifth year, will be held in Jeddah on the eastern coast of the Red Sea from December 4th to 13th.
