ABDULAZIZ ALSHLAHEI / THE TAMBOUR OF RETRIBUTION
Saudi filmmaker Abed Al-Aziz Alshlahei was born in Riyadh in 1986. His passion for movies and filmmaking started early. He directed four short films before directing his first feature.
The open ended theme of his movies comes from the instinctual and magical realism of the environment he grew up in. His movie Kaman (2016), for instance, depicts the conflict of ideas between a religious person and a violin that fights for its rights in a clash between reality and fantasy.
It was followed by Distance Zero (2020) which won Best Film at the Saudi Film Festival, and Best Cinematic Achievement from the Alexandria Film Festival.
Tambour of Retribution (2020), his second feature, was Saudi’s submission to the Academy Awards. He is now preparing for his third, Hobal.