Mohammed Al Turki is one of the profuse and genius filmmakers in Saudi Arabia that have created an esteemed name and space for the kingdom in this industry. For those of you who don’t know, Al Turki is a film producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was also recently appointed as CEO of the Red Sea Film festival, adding to his impressive roster of achievements.
Throughout his career, Al Turki has made it his prerogative to highlight the name of Saudi Arabia wherever he goes. He started his journey with studying Media in London and was later unwavering in his quest to breakthrough in Hollywood and make a name for himself. That breakthrough happened, he reports to online sources, when he met the English director and writer, Zeina Durra, and she simply asked him if he wanted to join her with working on an independent film she was making.
He has produced multiple movies in Hollywood, including Adult World, At Any Price, The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, Crisis, Innocent, What Maisie Knew and many more. The name Mohammed Al Turki have also worked with are quite hefty as they include Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, Zac Efron, Emma Roberts, John Cusack, and Michelle Rodriguez. Now he is turning his focus to his home country.
His filmmaking journey also took quite the turn when cinemas were opened in Saudi Arabia, as states to local news outlets, “When I started my career cinemas were banned in Saudi and I never imagined that I could watch one of my films there. It is really quite humbling.”One of his own movies even showed in Saudi cinemas, Crisis.
Having people from Saudi Arabia like Mohammed Al Turki is very enthusing as sets the way for other young Saudis and motivates them to pursue their dream–they see people begin the big screen just like them! Al Turki has always been very vocal about where he is from, and his mission has continuously been to depict Saudi culture whenever and wherever he can. Showing people from all over the world the rich heritage and history the kingdom has as the expressive art of filmmaking is truly admirable, and for that, Mohammed Al Turki will remain to be one of our favorites.
