The First Saudi Film Festival launched yesterday from Riyadh.

Yesterday witnessed a one of a life time event for Saudi filmmakers by the launch of the 1st Saudi Film Festival. The films participating will be screened on Rotana's new channel Rotana Aflma where the public will be able to view all films and vote accordingly to their desired winners. This makes it the first festival worldwide to show all participating films through a TV channel that shows the hidden talents to everyone.The festival's jury consisting of Abd El Elah Al Sanany, director Haifa Al Mansour, actor Khaled El Harby and festival director Mamdouh Salem where at the launch of the festival yesterday which held the first event hosted by Star Academy 6 star Abdel Aziz Abdel Rahman by screening 5 Short films, one animation and one documentary. The short films are "Aqiqa", "Doyoun", "Asefat Al Ayyam", "Lahza" and "El Samt". The animation film was "Yawmeyat Bassma W Zahi" and the documentary was "Malha Al Tayyib".Festival director Mamdouh Salem announced that there will be thirteen awards as follows: Best Long Feature Film, Best Short Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Script, Best Sound Effects, Best Director, Jury Award and Audience Award.