The film “Roll’em” is the first Saudi movie to be shown on Vox Cinema screens in Jeddah, west of Saudi Arabia, next Thursday, March 14. The film is about a young Saudi director, Khaled Yeslam, who after graduating from the university’s filmmaking department tries to make a film about Jeddah, but faces many difficulties until he meets Uncle Farid, who was a filmmaker in the 1970s. Their journey together, and lead the character of Uncle Farid actor Shaher al-Qurashi.
The Saudi film, which will premiere is 90 minutes long and all of its events were filmed in Jeddah and took 30 days of shooting. While the duration of the preparation of the film in terms of scriptwriting and selection of characters and photography and editing etc., nearly took three years in total to complete.
The director of the movie “Roll’em” Abdulelah Alqurashi give his full experience and finally give some excellent output. He points out that the film industry in all the world is not easy, and despite the difficulties faced by the team they learn a lot and said difficulties are natural as they have the first experience in a time and place in a modern cinema.
Abdulelah Alqurashi said, as for the meaning of the word “Roll’em” and the reason for its selection, is the word was uttered by the word “ROLL FILM”, a word used to operate the cameras before the action, indicating that the projection in choosing the name came to emphasize that cameras in Saudi Arabia are still working, and influenced by director Youssef Chahine, who was always repeating this word was one of the reasons for choosing the name of the film that fits with his story.
Al-Qurashi said that the success of the film and the evaluation of the work experience comes after the screening of the film in the cinema screens by measuring the reaction of the public and the box office, stressing that the period in which the film industry began in Saudi Arabia is the most difficult and important period in which the public in Saudi Arabia are following the movies of other countries.
“I hope that the time will come when I see 100 Saudi films screened in all forms of cinema. This is not difficult,” Al-Qurashi said. “We have the potential to make international cinema to compete.”
