Shivani Pandya Malhotra has stepped down as basic supervisor of Saudi Arabia‘s Pink Sea Movie Competition after enjoying an instrumental position in constructing the occasion from scratch and, over the course of 5 editions, turning it into one of many Arab world’s most outstanding festivals and the highest film market within the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] area.
The Pink Sea fest and market held in metropolis of Jeddah, on the Pink Sea’s jap shore, was established in 2019, with its inaugural version going down in 2020, two years after Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on industrial film theaters.
In its second yr, the Pink Sea fest hosted practically 40,000 filmgoers and greater than 4,000 movie professionals over 10 days in December 2022 and boasted a jury hosted by Oliver Stone. For the 2023 version, subtitled “Your Story, Your Competition,” Pandya Malhotra and her staff secured Baz Luhrmann as president of the jury and a lineup of movies together with Kaouther Ben Hania’s “4 Daughters” and director-star Maïwenn’s interval drama “Jeanne du Barry,” co-starring Johnny Depp, one of many 170 movies supported by the Pink Sea Fund. Final yr Sean Baker presided over the jury of a star-studded version of the Pink Sea fest that kicked off with Dakota Johnson, Uma Thurman, Ana de Armas, Queen Latifah, Vin Diesel and Michael Caine amongst stars on the pink carpet.
“After seven unbelievable years and 5 exceptional editions of the Pink Sea Worldwide Movie Competition, I go away with immense satisfaction in every part we have now constructed collectively,” Pandya Malhotra stated in a press release.
“It has been a privilege to be a part of the Basis’s journey from the very starting and to witness its development right into a globally revered establishment,” she added. “I’m deeply grateful to our Chairwoman Jomana Al Rashid, CEO Faisal Baltyour, our management, companions, filmmakers, colleagues, and the broader movie neighborhood whose ardour and dedication have helped form this success. Whereas I’m excited concerning the subsequent chapter, the Pink Sea Movie Basis will all the time maintain a really particular place in my coronary heart,” Pandya Malhotra continued.
Final yr’s version of the Pink Sea fest was additionally the primary one held beneath the watch of Saudi Arabian movie business pioneer Faisal Baltyuor who in Could, 2025, was appointed CEO of the Pink Sea Basis that oversees the competition in addition to the Pink Sea Fund, and its year-round Pink Sea Labs.
It’s believed that Baltyuor’s imaginative and prescient for the fest going ahead clashed with Pandya Malhotra’s mode of operation, in response to sources.
Baltyour commented: “Shivani has performed an vital position within the Basis’s journey, working alongside a gifted staff of Saudi and worldwide professionals to assist form its development. We thank her for her contributions and want her each success within the subsequent chapter of her profession.”
Pandya Malhotra, who has over 25 years of expertise within the leisure business – and previous to the Pink Sea fest managed the now defunct Dubai Movie Competition – just lately ventured into movie manufacturing as government producer of Yemeni-Scottish director Sara Ishaq’s Yemen-set drama “The Station” that in Could premiered positively from the Cannes Critics’ Week.
