Would you go to Saudi Arabia if your boss didn’t make you?
The Saudi royal family has been in bed with the top Republicans for decades. This goes back to the Bush family and 9-11, and all the way up to the chopping up of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. No one was ever punished for any of that.
Four years ago the Saudis got smart. They started the Red Sea Film Festival, funded by the royal family. Red Sea now has its sponsorship tentacles in a bunch of other festivals including Cannes. They underwrite parts of amFAR. This is all part of their normalization of a brutal regime in Saudi Arabia that offers few civil rights to women, and none to gay people.
Today they announced the corralling of Spike Lee as head of their next jury. Last year the head of the jury was the not very discerning Oliver Stone.
Most celebrities will go where the money is, as long as it comes upfront. Last year Gwyneth Paltrow gave a talk and went to the parties. So did Nicolas Cage, Adrien Brody, Halle Berry, Andrew Garfield, and many more. While there are almost no movies from the west — they are all Middle Eastern and conform to their conservative values — the American stars parade around like Saudi Arabia is Sundance on sand and steroids.
Here’s a picture of Cage with Mohammed al Turki, a leader of the Festival. Since Cage lost his hand in “Moonstruck,” let’s hope he got it back that night! al Turki is regularly seen at every Hollywood event including this past week’s Academy Governor’s Awards. He takes pictures with every single celebrity on his march to normalize Saudia Arabia.
