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DUBAI: The cast and crew of Saudi film “Hijra” attended a photocall at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday after Red Sea Film Foundation executives attended the opening red carpet on Wednesday, alongside Hollywood celebrities.

The Red Sea Film Foundation returned to the 82nd edition of the world’s longest running film festival to present a strong lineup of films and industry initiatives that reinforce its commitment to nurturing emerging talent from ��������, the Arab world, Africa and Asia.

Among the highlights is the aforementioned “Hijra” from ��������n director Shahad Ameen, whose poetic storytelling has positioned her as one of the Kingdom’s greatest voices. Supported by the Red Sea Fund, the film screens in Venice Spotlight, marking her return to the festival after her award-winning debut Scales premiered on the Lido in 2019.

Also featured is Lebanese filmmaker Cyril Aris’s “A Sad and Beautiful World,” a drama developed with the support of the Red Sea Labs, Red Sea Fund and Red Sea Souk. Its selection for Giornate degli Autori highlights the foundation’s commitment to backing emerging regional voices from inception to the global stage.

Algerian director Yanis Koussim’s “Roqia” and Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani’s “Cotton Queen” both screen in the Venice Critics’ Week section, offering urgent narratives that reflect the complexity of contemporary Arab identity. Completing the line-up is Damien Hauser’s “Memory of Princess Mumbi,” backed by the Red Sea Fund and Red Sea Souk.

Meanwhile, Julia Roberts and George Clooney are some of the biggest names at the festival, with top directors from Kathryn Bigelow to Jim Jarmusch all due on the sandy Lido across the Venice lagoon.

The main event in Wednesday evening's opening ceremony was Francis Ford Coppola awarding a Lifetime Achievement award to German director Werner Herzog ("Grizzly Man", "Fitzcarraldo") for his canon of more than 70 films.

Herzog, who said he always searched for the "sublime" in his films, will showcase his latest documentary, "Ghost Elephants", about a lost herd in Angola, on Thursday.

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino's "La Grazia" -- about an Italian president grappling with doubts over whether to sign a euthanasia bill into law -- was the first main in-competition movie presented on Wednesday.

"Dwelling on doubt and then allowing that doubt to mature into a decision is something that is increasingly rare," Sorrentino told journalists.

"Mother", a film depicting Mother Teresa as a sometimes ruthless figure struggling to reconcile her views on motherhood and abortion, opened the secondary Orizzonti section.

Eyes were set to quickly turn to Hollywood's favourite leading man, Clooney, who stepped off a water taxi in Venice with his wife Amal on Tuesday.

Roberts, meanwhile, will appear at Venice for the first time on Friday in the out-of-competition cancel-culture drama "After the Hunt", from Italy's Luca Guadagnino.

Winners of the festival's prestigious Golden Bear top prize often go on to Oscar glory, such as "Nomadland" or "Joker" in previous years.

DUBAI: National Geographic’s latest documentary “Lost Treasures of Arabia: The Nabataean Kingdom” — available to stream on Disney+ from Aug. 29 — puts the spotlight on one of the ancient world’s most innovative and mysterious desert civilizations.

From the sandstone facades of Petra, Jordan, and the tombs of Hegra in ��������, the documentary investigates how the Nabataeans defied nature and time by mastering desert trade routes, engineering complex water systems, and developing an urban culture so advanced it rivalled the greatest empires of their time.

Saudi archaeologist Dr. Dhaifallah Altalhi, dean emeritus of arts, University of Hail, ��������, and former co-director of the Mada’in Salih Archaeological Project, who worked on the project, spoke with Arab News about why the Nabataeans continue to fascinate scholars and the public alike.

“I think the Nabataean is a great story. It’s a kingdom which flourished in the northwest of Arabia from the fourth century BC to the first century AD,” he said. “Besides the magnificent tombs and other archaeological artifacts, I think the Nabataeans also were great in their society. The women in this community had the right to ownership. They owned their own tombs. They had their own money. And the queen was also represented on coins beside the king.”

What most impressed him, however, was their resourcefulness in a harsh environment. “Their ability to control their very limited water resources, this was magnificent. They dug wells, and they brought water from very far distances, some of the water reservoirs and aqueducts … bringing the water from about 12 kilometers far, which is a great distance.”

The Nabataeans were equally influential in trade. “They also transported goods for others. And they started commercial centers. Those commercial centers turned into villages sometimes, and that grows until it reached cities, and they were imposing tax on the imported goods,” he explained.

Their cultural impact extended far beyond Arabia. “It is amazing that we have found some inscriptions, Nabataean inscriptions, in Italy … in Egypt, in Yemen to the south,” Dr. Diafallah said. “Of course, the Nabataeans in turn were influenced by Greek architecture … especially the tombs. They were influenced also by other deities and their religions from the Greek influence.”

Among discoveries at Hegra, one inscription stood out. “It was written around 175 AD, and it talks about the restoration of the old fence which was surrounding Madain Saleh … this inscription has added to our knowledge about Hegra,” he said.