Saudi film director and writer Ali Kalthami began his career making digital series including “AlKhallat”, which ran for a decade and was later adapted by Netflix. In 2016, he moved into cinema with his short film “Wasati”; his feature-length thriller “Mandoob” was one of two produced by Telfaz11, a Riyadh-based content creator he helped establish, and premiered at this year's Toronto Film Festival.
Mandoob is screening at Red Sea Film Festival
Fahad Algadaani is a mentally unstable man who works at a call center, but gets repeatedly in trouble for being late or ignoring the pleas of customers. Inevitably, eventually he gets fired, with his reaction to this decision highlighting his instability in the harshest fashion. At the same time, Fahad has to take care of his ailing father and feels the need to protect his divorced sister, who is looking to become an entrepreneur and does not particularly value his involvement in her life.
Mandoob is screening at Red Sea Film Festival
Fahad Algadaani is a mentally unstable man who works at a call center, but gets repeatedly in trouble for being late or ignoring the pleas of customers. Inevitably, eventually he gets fired, with his reaction to this decision highlighting his instability in the harshest fashion. At the same time, Fahad has to take care of his ailing father and feels the need to protect his divorced sister, who is looking to become an entrepreneur and does not particularly value his involvement in her life.
- 12/3/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Ali Kalthami’s satirical drama “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) examines the class divide in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, telling the story of a hapless delivery man and the desperate avenues he takes to make money.
Comedic actor Mohammed Aldokhei plays Fahad, who finds himself in a precarious situation after he is fired from his day job at a call center. Trying to make ends meet, and help his ailing father get necessary medical treatment, Fahad embarks on an illicit scheme to sell stolen liquor while delivering food to wealthy customers.
The film, which unspooled in Toronto and at the Zurich Film Festival, is also a visual tour of Riyadh and its low-income and working-class neighborhoods, mostly by night and often in the rain. Kalthami was eager to capture the city and its glaring lights during the country’s short rainy season. The wide, multi-lane streets and heavy traffic also allowed...
Comedic actor Mohammed Aldokhei plays Fahad, who finds himself in a precarious situation after he is fired from his day job at a call center. Trying to make ends meet, and help his ailing father get necessary medical treatment, Fahad embarks on an illicit scheme to sell stolen liquor while delivering food to wealthy customers.
The film, which unspooled in Toronto and at the Zurich Film Festival, is also a visual tour of Riyadh and its low-income and working-class neighborhoods, mostly by night and often in the rain. Kalthami was eager to capture the city and its glaring lights during the country’s short rainy season. The wide, multi-lane streets and heavy traffic also allowed...
- 10/8/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
The closing film of the 2nd edition of the Red Sea Film Festival was Khalid Fahad’s debut feature “Valley Road,” which was majority funded by the Ithra Cultural Center – the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, which has become one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest film producers.
The comedy adventure is about a young mute boy, Ali, who lives in a remote Saudi village, with his stern father and doting elder sister Siham, who is studying in a nearby city.
His father takes him on a trip through their picturesque mountain valley, seeking to get him “cured” by the local doctor. But Alia gets lost on the way and embarks on a series of misadventures, amplified by his vivid imagination.
The family is distraught to locate their missing son, and his sister Siham urgently looks for clues as to his whereabouts.
As the characters evolve during the story, it...
The comedy adventure is about a young mute boy, Ali, who lives in a remote Saudi village, with his stern father and doting elder sister Siham, who is studying in a nearby city.
His father takes him on a trip through their picturesque mountain valley, seeking to get him “cured” by the local doctor. But Alia gets lost on the way and embarks on a series of misadventures, amplified by his vivid imagination.
The family is distraught to locate their missing son, and his sister Siham urgently looks for clues as to his whereabouts.
As the characters evolve during the story, it...
- 12/9/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi Arabia’s prolific production company Telfaz11 – which is behind the kingdom’s international Oscar candidate “Raven Song” — is celebrating its 11th anniversary today (Nov. 11) by starting the shoot of its 11th film, the bold crime comedy “Night Courier,” directed by Ali Al Kalthami, who is one of the innovative shingle founders.
Cameras are rolling in Riyadh on “Night Courier,” starring Mohammed AlDokhi — who launched his career as an actor in various Telfaz11 digital productions — as a young man named Fahad Algadaani who is in desperate need of money to get medical treatment for his dad. After getting into a fistfight with his boss and losing his job, Fahad takes a gig as a driver with a delivery app, which leads him to an underground world of criminal activities. When he winds up in possession of six crates of illicit booze, Fahad has some tough choices to make, all while...
Cameras are rolling in Riyadh on “Night Courier,” starring Mohammed AlDokhi — who launched his career as an actor in various Telfaz11 digital productions — as a young man named Fahad Algadaani who is in desperate need of money to get medical treatment for his dad. After getting into a fistfight with his boss and losing his job, Fahad takes a gig as a driver with a delivery app, which leads him to an underground world of criminal activities. When he winds up in possession of six crates of illicit booze, Fahad has some tough choices to make, all while...
- 11/11/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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