{"id":109661,"date":"2026-06-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=109661"},"modified":"2026-06-07T02:59:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:59:39","slug":"red-sea-film-foundations-longtime-managing-director-steps-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/06\/07\/red-sea-film-foundations-longtime-managing-director-steps-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sea Film Foundation\u2019s longtime managing director steps down"},"content":{"rendered":"

The architect of Saudi Arabia\u2019s flagship film festival is stepping aside. <\/strong>Shivani Pandya Malhotra has resigned as managing director of the Red Sea Film Foundation, the body behind the Red Sea International Film Festival, ending a seven-year run that began before the first edition.<\/p>\n

A foundational hire: <\/strong>Pandya Malhotra joined in early 2019, barely two years after the Kingdom lifted its decades-long cinema ban. She was central to building the first international film festival from scratch, growing it from a makeshift 2021 debut in Jeddah\u2019s Al Balad into one of the region\u2019s biggest festivals and top film markets in MENA. She was armed with over 25 years of experience in the industry, having previously run the now-defunct Dubai International Film Festival and the Gulf Film Festival.<\/p>\n

It looks like an amicable breakup, but is there something more to it? <\/strong>Pandya Malhotra\u2019s tenure overlapped with three foundation CEOs \u2014 Mahmoud Sabbagh, Mohammed Al Turki, and current chief Faisal Baltyour. The latter\u2019s vision for the festival direction has reportedly \u201cclashed with Pandya Malhotra\u2019s mode of operation,\u201d unnamed sources told Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pandya Malhotra joined two years after the Kingdom lifted the cinema ban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2577],"tags":[10,42,2140],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-109661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moves","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","tag-moves","tag-red-sea-film-foundation","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"7855cd54-b294-4446-856f-51f36403f5c4","order":"8","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/6\/390.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Red Sea Film Foundation\u2019s longtime managing director steps down","related_issue":[109648],"teaser":"Pandya Malhotra joined two years after the Kingdom lifted the cinema ban"},"yoast_head":"\nRed Sea Film Foundation\u2019s longtime managing director steps down - 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