The Saudi psychological thriller Traveller’s Hell had its world premiere at the 47th Cairo International Film Festival on 13 November.
Arab News says the film will open in the UAE on 26 November, a week after Saudi cinemas on 19 November. Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Jordan also open on 26 November. Arab News says Egypt follows on 3 December.
MBC Studios, the production arm of MBC Group, says the festival picked the film for its Midnight Screenings section, and that the premiere was its first showing anywhere. The red-carpet reception for the cast and makers was held there too. BroadcastPro says Qanawat Distribution handles the release.
The story follows a young woman who offers a ride to a stranded stranger on a remote mountain road. Deadline says the stranger is a serial killer posing as a stranded motorist. The film mixes fantasy with psychological suspense and was shot entirely in Saudi Arabia.
Osamah Almuslim, a bestselling Saudi novelist, wrote the story, adapting his own novel of the same name. Hana Alomair directs. It’s her first feature, after she co-wrote and directed Whispers, one of Netflix’s first original series with Saudi Arabia. The cast includes Adwa Bader, Basil Al-Sole, Mohammed Ali, Shojaat Nashat, and Aziz Gharbawi.
The film was first announced in 2024. It is part of a strategic partnership between MBC and Almuslim, announced more than two years ago, to adapt several of his works for film and television.
In Cairo, the Midnight Screenings programme is curated by the Egyptian critic Karim El-Dalil and pairs four new productions with four classics. The Film Verdict says Traveller’s Hell appears alongside David Lynch’s 1997 film Lost Highway. The festival runs from 11 to 20 November at the Cairo Opera House.
Last year, BAAB became the first Emirati feature by a woman at the festival. Desert Warrior, shot in NEOM, is another Saudi production made for a global audience, and the comedy Crazy Rich Incredibly Broke is on Netflix.
