Will Smith gives insights into his career at Saudi Film Confex

Looking back on his three decades at the top of the global box office, superstar Will Smith refined a recipe for success: If you want to conquer international markets, it is often crucial to remain taciturn.

“As soon as people have to read or translate a subtitle, there is a certain discrepancy,” says Smith. “So when you find non-dialogical ways (to convey an emotional hit), they generally translate more globally. When it comes to action, comedy and conveying emotions, I always look for a non-dialogical way to portray the most critical parts.”

Smith shared his insights at this year's Saudi Film Confex, a trade conference in Riyadh where the Oscar winner was the guest of honor. And aside from the fact that Smith's “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” recently became the highest-grossing film of all time in Saudi Arabia, the actor's presence in Riyadh had far greater significance.

After decades in obscurity, the Saudi film industry is more than making up for lost time as the local production, distribution and exhibition sectors record rapid growth. This growth – and with it the evergreen prerogative that great potential leads to greater responsibility – underscored and shaped all conversations at Confex, which took place October 9-12.

The second edition of Confex included more than 30 panel discussions, 15 workshops and an exhibition covering more than 16 areas of the film value chain, all providing an overview of an emerging industry that is defining its identity and ambitions in real time. The numerous panelists pointed to opportunities that include AI workflows and popular animation – with a number of successful manga adaptations pointing to the Saudi-Japanese partnership as a promising path.

And almost all of them focused on mass appeal.

In recent months, homegrown hits like “Mandoob” have enjoyed local success in international releases in France and Britain, as have adventure films like “Hajjan” – from Cannes-acclaimed author Abu Bakr Shawky (“Yomeddine”) – following a world view in Saudi cinemas arrived premiere in Toronto. (Another recent success was the action satire “Shabab Albomb,” an adaptation of the cult TV series “Firecrackers Youth” from a decade earlier.)

This record-breaking record boosted the domestic industry and led to record-breaking attendance at this year's Saudi Film Confex, which expected 65,000 attendees and happily welcomed 5,000 more, leading to the signing of 25 agreements worth 60 million US dollars led. This local growth has only whetted the appetite for international expansion – which brings us back to a certain guest of honor who has an astute perspective on this particular cause.

In fact, Smith, more than many of his colleagues, was always remarkably open-minded about the machinations and logistics of global public relations, often comparing his position to that of a diplomat or ambassador.

“As a film star you have a specific global relationship,” he explains. “They take the audience into account and ensure a relationship (and that too) with a more holistic view of the company.”

“There's local aesthetics and global aesthetics,” Smith says, pointing to the rise of Korean cinema as a more contemporary example of the latter and his own childhood fascination with Bruce Lee as an earlier variant.

“Bruce Lee was all I knew about China when I was 10 years old,” he says. “Bruce Lee introduced me to Chinese culture and I wanted to be like (him). So I would say: who is willing to do the same? Who will be the person who brings their culture to the world?”

Of course, charismatic idols wouldn't be enough to pave an international path, as the actor made clear. Instead, local filmmakers would have to focus on universal themes and universal forms, finding a precise – and often difficult – balance between authenticity and accessibility, language and all.

This particular line was reflected in so many Confex panels, particularly those that emphasized cinema's power for soft diplomacy. Rather than compete with Hollywood, so many Saudi filmmakers instead want to offer a corrective – especially to the overwhelmingly negative light that is too often cast on the Arab world.

Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, former head of Saudi intelligence and a former ambassador to both the UK and the US, praised cinema's potential for precisely this kind of positive cultural diplomacy at a Confex panel discussion attended by the first and current Minister of Culture of the country, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” the crown prince said, echoing similar advice from the former prince, before recalling director Agusti Villaronga’s biopic “Born a King,” about the young King Faisal.

The Spanish-British co-production, which hit cinemas in 2019 to regional box office success, was the first large-scale international feature film to be shot in the Kingdom, using local cast and crew back in 2017. Less than a decade later The domestic industry now has the incentives and infrastructure to develop, finance, produce and distribute such titles internally – and with all of this comes the hunger to take these commercial works around the world.

“You’re at an unprecedented point,” Smith said encouragingly. “This is a unique and rare opportunity where the world is waiting to see what you do and to hear what you say. I would say take it seriously. You have the resources, you have the support, you have the story, now it’s time to deliver.”