Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF)
The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) is an annual film festival held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was first launched in 2019 and is the first major international film festival in Saudi Arabia. The event aims to promote and celebrate both Arab and international cinema, showcasing films from established and emerging filmmakers while also serving as a platform to support the burgeoning film industry in Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East. The festival also holds workshops, masterclasses, and networking opportunities for filmmakers and industry professionals.
The Red Sea Film Foundation (RSFF) approached Can Factory to assist them in the ongoing development of their digital offering from a build, support and DevOps standpoint. Initially, the team at Can Factory supported the site in place, with a plan to move it following the 2022 festival. Following increasing scale and security concerns, we migrated the platform to a new secure Amazon Web Services (AWS) private cloud.
Following the migration, we took over the development of the existing WordPress and Elementor platform. The new platform allowed us to protect the platform using Cloudflare and AWS Web Application Firewalls, as well as creating a secure User Acceptance Test (UAT) environment that was a live mirror of the product WordPress platform.
Working in partnership with existing design partners and our UK partner, Futurestate Design, we improved the platform’s scalability and security while adding a number of core features to the festival offering. This included integrating with the bespoke back-office Film Management System for both ticketing and content display.
Over the last ten years, we have worked in many regions in MENA and have significant experience developing mobile and web applications in multiple languages, including Arabic. This experience was extremely beneficial when working with the Red Sea Film Foundation team.
The festival reflects the rapid growth of the Saudi film industry, with an increasing number of local productions being showcased. It also provides a platform for international co-productions, fostering collaboration between Saudi filmmakers and the global cinema community.
While the RSIFF highlights global cinema, it places special emphasis on showcasing Arab filmmakers, particularly from Saudi Arabia, giving local talent a global platform. One key aspect is the Red Sea Lodge, a development program that nurtures upcoming filmmakers with funding and mentorship.
The team at Can Factory has been involved in the film industry since the late 1990s and has worked alongside some amazing enterprises, including Festival de Cannes. The RSIFF marked the first large-scale, government-supported film festival in Saudi Arabia, reflecting the kingdom’s broader cultural reforms following the lifting of a 35-year ban on cinemas in 2018. It was a pleasure to be invited to join the team as part of the journey the Red Sea Film Foundation is on, and we can’t wait to see where they go next. Despite being relatively new, the RSIFF has quickly garnered international attention, attracting renowned filmmakers, actors, and industry professionals from around the world. Major stars such as Hilary Swank, Clive Owen, and directors like Spike Lee have been involved.
Technologies Used
Languages
- PHP
- HTML
- CSS
- Javascript
Platforms & Frameworks
- AWS VPC
- AWS WAF
- AWS SNS/SES
- AWS CloudWatch
- AWS RDS MySQL
- WordPress
3rd party integration
- Bespoke FMS
- WPML
- Wordfence
- Cloudflare
- Google Analytics
- Google Maps
- Netdata
