This month's Red Sea International Film Festival saw a positive reception for "Raven Song," which is just the sixth Saudi Arabian film to have been nominated for an Academy Award. It heralds the entry of a talented artist with vision, flair, and a sense of humor.
After earning his degree, Al-Salman began working as an engineer with Aramco, one of the largest businesses in the Kingdom. He made it his goal to learn all he could about the history of film during his leisure time, and the more he did so, the more he learned about his own talents as well as those of the art. He learned that it was possible to be caustic, to engage in philosophical inquiry, and to infuse profundity. He gained knowledge of storytelling and symbolism, including both tragedy and humor. Al Salman completed the NYFA One-Year Filmmaking Conservatory program in 2019.
The more he observed, the more he yearned to create himself. Beginning in 2015 with "Amongst," he began creating short films, and from 2017 until 2020, he produced one per year. His most recent two short films were included in the Netflix original series "Six Windows in the Desert," which was created by the Saudi Arabian production house Telfaz11.
He turned to creating in-house content for Aramco when it became evident that his love of movies had surpassed his love of engineering.
The film "Raven Song" follows Nasser, a 30-year-old man with a brain tumor, whose life is flipped upside down when he meets a mysterious young woman. Even while doing so is always a risk, there has never been a better time for a Saudi filmmaker to create a movie that purposely confronts its audience than right now. It's the unique voices that are quickly distinguishing themselves from the crowd in the Kingdom's developing film industry. Al-Salman told Arab News, “I’m building a filmography, and I will take my time in doing that.” He added, “I want to make films that won’t be forgotten.” He thinks that film may be the ideal vehicle for Saudi Arabia to finally share with the world the experiences from the years when no movies were created at all.
Al-Salman has many stories he wants to explore in subsequent movies, with some projects already in the works, but for the time being he is taking stock and evaluating what his first feature has already accomplished. The movie has been chosen by the Saudi Film Commission to represent Saudi Arabia at the 2023 Academy Awards.
