The upcoming Saudi feature film “Hobal” from the acclaimed director Abdulaziz Alshlahei is set to begin shooting this September in NEOM, northwest Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the film will use the gorgeous Bajdah Studios and its extensive vistas to create an epic cinematic experience.
"Hobal" is about a Saudi family living in the desert in the early 1990s. The family is not permitted to leave the desert, as per their grandfather's severe orders. A chain of events, however, challenges their foundations and forces them to choose between life and death. Among the all-Saudi cast members are Mohammed Altoyan and Mishal Almutairi.
Alshlahei's third feature film follows the success of Saudi period drama "The Tambour of Retribution," which won two awards at the Cairo Film Festival and was selected as Saudi Arabia's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.
Mufarrej Al-Majfel, the film's scriptwriter, was one of the winners and received a fund award at the Saudi Film Commission's Daw Film Competition, an initiative launched in September 2019 by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture to support Saudi film production and champion the next generation of filmmakers by establishing a sustainable funding programme to bring Saudi content to the screen and to wider audiences.
The film will benefit from NEOM's production assistance, which includes crew, location scouting, logistics, and on-the-ground production knowledge. The strategic location of Bajdah Studios allows producers to shoot on location in the stunning landscapes of NEOM while remaining close to the state-of-the-art sound stages, which include back-of-house facilities such as make-up rooms, green rooms, and production offices.
NEOM has supported and provided the backdrop for over 30 local projects spanning film and television across documentary and fiction in the last 18 months including Rupert Wyatt's "Desert Warrior," starring Anthony Mackie and Sir Ben Kingsley, "Dunki" directed by Rajkumar Hirani and starring Shah Rukh Khan, the first regional reality TV show "Million Dollar Island" and "Rise of The Witches," the region's biggest-ever budget TV show. Furthermore, MBC's "Exceptional," a 200-episode-a-year TV drama series, will begin production in July.
