Saudi conceptual artist Muhannad Shono breaks down some of his most significant works 

CANNES: Saudi Arabia’s Purple Sea Worldwide Movie Competition and Vainness Honest on Thursday hosted a “girls’s tales gala after get together” in the course of the Cannes Movie Competition to have fun feminine expertise within the area. 

The star-studded occasion was attended by Leonardo DiCaprio, Katie Holmes, Maiwenn, The Weeknd, Gaspar Noe, Storm Reid, Tobey Maguire, Gurinder Chadha, Fan Bingbing, Freida Pinto, Simone Marchetti, Eva Herzigova, Naomi Campbell and extra. 

The occasion, held on the famed Resort du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d’Antibes, honored six stars from the area: Saudi actresses Mila Al-Zahrani and Fatima Al-Banawi, Lebanese actress Razane Jammal, Indian star Sarah Ali Khan, Egyptian-Montenegrin actress and mannequin Tara Emad and Nigerian filmmaker Jade Osiberu. 

In an interview with Arab Information, Emad mentioned: “I’m very pleased with myself, of each girls right here that’s an honoree. I’m pleased with our trade, of Egypt (and) of the Arab world. I’m glad to have the ability to symbolize Egypt and the Arab phrase basically. 

“I’m pleased to have the ability to see the illustration that I at all times sought to see as a younger woman,” she mentioned. “I hope that the six of us might be that illustration to all the ladies and all the ladies within the Arab area that search to see themselves within the highlight in any profession that they select.”

Khan believes it was a “privilege” to be a part of the occasion. “I feel if I needed to establish myself in three phrases it will in all probability be: Indian, lady (and) actor. And I’m right here to have fun all three at the moment,” she mentioned. 

To Al-Banawi, moments like these are now not a shock. 

“I reached to a degree the place I’m actually not stunned as a result of Saudi Arabia is making an attempt to show that we’re creating tales which might be inspiring, magical and that push for change and improvement,” she mentioned. “I’m very pleased that we’re right here in Cannes Movie Competition, celebrating one another and  celebrating with one another.

“I really feel just like the narrative we represented within the mild that was at all times on us was a really particular one and I don’t suppose girls have been a part of it. I feel it was written by others,” she mentioned. “Right now, I’m celebrating girls which might be writing, which might be creating and difficult and honoring themselves and different fellow girls.

“I feel it takes a lot braveness to inform one story, not to mention if there was so many tales that have been shaping you in a selected discourse or a selected channel or a selected mild. It takes extra braveness to unleash, to unfold new potentialities and new alternatives. I at all times remind myself to be OK with taking over house, with talking my opinion, with addressing what I really feel may very well be fallacious or must be modified,” Al-Banawi mentioned. 

Jammal mentioned that she by no means differentiated between a person and a girl. 

“Perhaps as a result of I lived in a little bit bubble as a result of I used to be raised by a person that empowered me and instructed me that there was no distinction between me and my brother. So possibly I by no means grew up feeling that being a girl is a problem. If something, I felt prefer it was a superpower,” she mentioned. 

However when she joined the workforce, she realized that girls confronted challenges. 

“I’m studying now as I’m extra uncovered to a wider viewers, and relying on their reactions I can find out about them extra,” she mentioned. “As a girl, I’m actually pleased to be representing an individual who chased her goals, who’s self-made, who’s unbiased, and I’m simply making an attempt to do my greatest and I’m simply actually pleased that one of the best is simply working for me proper now.”

Portugese mannequin Sara Sampaio, who additionally attended, mentioned that being a part of the ladies’s tales gala was “so particular.” 

“Ladies are superb, and for the longest time we didn’t have tales instructed by our level of views. It’s crucial,” she mentioned. 

Mohammed Al-Turki, CEO of the Purple Sea Movie Competition, instructed Arab Information: “We’re very pleased to be celebrating girls. We’re very proud that we will share tales from our area. Right now, we’re highlighting six females from our area: two from Saudi — Mila Zahran and Fatima Al-Banawi — from Egypt Tara Emad, from Lebanon Razane Jammal, from Nigeria Jade and from India Sara Ali Khan.

“It’s fairly an fascinating combine and for us to have the ability to showcase these abilities to the world, to be in a room tonight with the likes of Katie Holmes and extra, is an enormous unbelievable second for us,” he mentioned. 

“I feel the dream has come true. I by no means thought a Saudi co-production would open Cannes with a feminine director of Algerian descent,” he mentioned. “So it’s an indicator that we’re going. And if that is simply three years of Purple Sea, I feel we should always simply fasten our seatbelt and go for a journey as a result of we’re going to see unbelievable issues transferring ahead.”

This 12 months, Cannes Movie Competition opened with the screening of Johnny Depp’s “Jeanne du Barry,” which was backed by the Purple Sea Worldwide Movie Competition.