TaleFlick, an online story discovery platform founded by “White Noise” producer Uri Singer and former Netflix executive George Berry, is now inviting Saudi poets to submit their work. This initiative aims to capture the essence, history, and vibrant traditions of Saudi Arabian culture.
Storytelling in the Arab world, particularly in Saudi Arabia, has deep roots in oral history and poetry. TaleFlick’s goal is to create a bridge between Saudi poetry and Hollywood, offering writers a chance to showcase their work to producers and studios.
“Poetry is the heartbeat of Saudi Arabian culture, resonating deeply with its people and heritage,” said Uri Singer, CEO of TaleFlick, in a statement to Variety. “By embracing poems, we aim to honor and elevate this beautiful art form, providing a platform to transform these stories into powerful visual narratives,” he added.
TaleFlick, which originally focused on fiction and non-fiction novels and screenplays, is expanding to include poetry from around the world. This move will allow poets from Saudi Arabia and beyond to share their unique voices and stories with a global audience.
Submitted poems will be curated and showcased to a network of studios and producers. This offers a unique opportunity for these poetic works to be adapted into films, TV series, and other forms of visual storytelling. All poems will be available to studios and producers worldwide.
Singer noted that Saudi poems can be submitted in Arabic, as TaleFlick’s curation team includes translators and poets from the region. The submission process is free of charge.
TaleFlick, launched in 2018, expanded its scope a year ago to accept submissions in multiple languages, including Arabic, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese, and South Korean.
The platform’s next step is to select participants from the poem submissions for a reality TV show called “House of Poems,” according to the statement.
This initiative is not entirely new to the region. The Middle East already hosts “The Million’s Poet,” a popular show similar to “American Idol” that has been running since 2007 on Abu Dhabi TV and has millions of viewers across the Arab world. There is also a strong connection between poetry and cinema in the region.
A recent example is Mohamed Al Salman’s absurdist drama “Raven Song,” Saudi Arabia’s submission for the Academy Awards last year. The film tells the story of Nasser, a young man diagnosed with a brain tumor, who is encouraged by his best friend to woo an enigmatic woman with a love poem.
Uri Singer, who attended Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival last year and plans to return, is a prolific producer known for “Marjorie Prime,” “White Noise,” and “Tesla.” His upcoming projects include two films rooted in the region: Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud’s female revenge thriller “Beretta” and British director Jon Amiel’s Saudi oil origins story “Sands of Fortune.”
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