Reflecting on his three decades at the top of the international box office, Will Smith famously honed a successful formulation: When you want to conquer international markets, remaining taciturn is often the key.
“As soon as people need to read a subtitle or translate, there’s a bit of a disconnect,” says Smith. “So often, if you find non-dialogue methods (to convey an emotional beat), they translate more globally. When it comes to action, when it comes to comedy, and when it comes to delivering emotion, I’m always looking for the non-dialogue strategy to deliver the most important elements.”
Smith shared his insights at this year’s Saudi Movie Confex, a Riyadh-based trade conference where the Oscar-winning star was a guest of honor. And beyond the fact that Smith’s “Bad Boys: Live or Die” recently became Saudi Arabia’s highest-grossing film of all time, the actor’s presence in Riyadh had a broader auspice.
After a long time at midnight, the Saudi film industry is more than making up for lost time, with the local production, distribution and exhibition sectors developing rapidly. Declared development – and with it, that perennial prerogative that great potential results in better accountability – both highlighted and informed the entire Confex negotiations, which took place from October 9th to 12th.
The second version of Confex featured over 30 panel discussions, 15 workshops and an exhibition covering over 16 areas of the cinema value chain, all collectively providing a portrait of a growing industry defining its identity and ambitions in real time. . The various speakers pointed to alternatives that span AI and traditional animation workflows – with many successful manga diversifications pointing to the Saudi-Japanese partnership as a promising path forward.
And almost all aimed at mass appeal.
In recent months, local hits like “Mandoob” have parlayed local success into international releases in France and the UK, as have adventure films like “Hajjan” – from acclaimed Cannes auteur Abu Bakr Shawky (“Yomeddine”) – success on Saudi screens after world premiere in Toronto. (Another recent hit was the action satire “Shabab Albomb,” adapted from the cult TV series “Firecrackers Youth” from the previous decade.)
This excellent report helped domestic trade to flourish, resulting in a record attendance at this year’s Saudi Movie Confex, which was attended by 65,000 people and happily welcomed another 5,000, and which resulted in 25 deals signed worth $60 million. This local development has only whetted the appetite for global enlargement – which brings us back to a certain guest of honor with an insightful view of that exact concern.
In fact, more than many of his friends, Smith has always been remarkably open when it comes to the machinations and logistics of global reach, often comparing his role to that of a diplomat or ambassador.
“As a movie star, (you) cultivate a select international relationship,” he explains. “You are taking the audience into consideration and delivering on your relationship (and doing so) with a more holistic view of the business.”
“There are local aesthetics and international aesthetics,” says Smith, pointing to the rise of Korean cinema as a more modern example of the latter and to his personal childhood fascination with Bruce Lee as an earlier iteration.
“Bruce Lee was all I knew about China 10 years ago,” he says. “Bruce Lee introduced me to Chinese culture and I wanted to be like (him). So I would say, who is interested in (doing the same)? Who is going to step up and be the individual to take their tradition to the world?”
After all, charismatic idols would not be enough to pave a global path, as the actor made it clear. Alternatively, Native filmmakers would like to accentuate common themes and common types, striking an exact – and sometimes difficult – balance between authenticity and accessibility, language and all.
This same line was echoed in most of the Confex panels, especially those who emphasized cinema’s energy for tender diplomacy. Rather than compete against Hollywood, many Saudi filmmakers want to offer a corrective – particularly to the overwhelmingly negative light that often shines on the Arab world.
Former head of Saudi Intelligence and former ambassador to the United Kingdom. and in the US, Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud praised the potential of cinema for this royal kind of constructive cultural diplomacy in a Confex panel attended by the nation’s inaugural minister and still carrying on the tradition, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud.
“A picture is worth hundreds of words,” said the crown prince, echoing similar recommendations from the former contemporary prince, before evoking director Agusti Villaronga’s biopic of the young King Faisal, “Born a King.”
Released to regional box office success in 2019, that Spanish-UK co-production was the first large-scale global feature film to be filmed in the Kingdom, featuring a local cast and crew until 2017. Less than a decade later, the national industry now it has the incentives and infrastructure to grow, finance and produce and distribute these titles internally – and with all this comes the hunger to get these industrial works out into the world.
“You’re at an unprecedented level,” Smith said encouragingly. “This is a unique and unusual opportunity where the world will be able to see what you do and hear what you say. I would say, take this critically. You have the resources, you may have the support, you may have the history, now is the time to submit.