From AL Monitor’s Mid-week Middle East lobbying newsletter:
Saudi movie industry spent more than $1 million on Cannes film festival PR
Saudi Arabia spent more than $1 million on a public relations campaign to promote itself as a film destination at the world’s glitziest movie festival in 2018, newly disclosed lobbying filings reveal.
Los Angeles-based Rogers & Cowan signed a seven-week contract in April 2018 with the UAE branch of Bell Pottinger spinoff Consulum, which in turn was hired by Saudi Arabia’s General Culture Authority and the Saudi Film Council. Rogers & Cowan received more than $1.2 million from Consulum to promote the Saudi film industry at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018, including $154,000 in expenses (the latter included more than $32,000 for hotels and $48,000 for airfare). The registered agents on the account were Dennis Dembia, Sidney Angela Dizon, Jason Magner and Ryan Smith.
“We’re using Cannes as a platform to say, ‘Here we are.’ You know? Welcome to Saudi,” Ahmad al-Maziad, the CEO of Saudi Arabia’s General Culture Authority, told Vanity Fair at the time. “We’re coming to build an industry. We’re not coming for a marketing campaign or a one-off hub of activity.” The magazine was one of dozens of US media companies approached by Rogers & Cowan, according to lobbying disclosures.
A few months later, with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudis suffered a deep blow to their $64 billion push to create a world-class film industry. Hollywood’s relationship with the fledgling Saudi film industry came under widespread scrutiny as a result. In October 2019, the Saudis flew in film stars including Jackie Chan, Jason Momoa and Jean-Claude Van Damme to attend a Saudi entertainment conference, the first Hollywood stars to visit since Khashoggi’s murder.
$64 billion? That’s a heckuva seed for their new industry. However, I’m afraid that autocracy, no matter how ‘liberal’ they try to make it, isn’t a salubrious atmosphere for the creation of an industry that depends on personal initiative, because that tends to get stamped out. Even the upper echelons have to toe the line carefully, as Mohammad bin Salman demonstrated a few years ago.
And just creating propaganda surely shouldn’t cost $64 billion.
