Standfirst: Traveller’s Hell, the first feature film by Saudi director Hana Alomair, will have its world premiere at the 47th Cairo International Film Festival on November 13, producer MBC Studios announced this week, as reported by Arab News and Deadline. The psychological thriller, adapted from a bestselling Saudi novel, will then open in cinemas in Saudi Arabia on November 19.
A midnight slot in Cairo
The film has been selected for the festival’s Midnight Screenings section, a programme dedicated to genre cinema, according to the line-up published by the Cairo festival and reported by Al-Ahram. It runs for 90 minutes and is the only Arab title in the section, which also includes Joaquín Cambre’s Skin of the Drum from Argentina and two French productions, Guillaume Nicloux’s Mon Chéri and Léa Mysius’s Christmas Party. Two classics complete the strand: Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942) and David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997).
The 47th edition of the festival opens on November 11. Its Midnight Screenings strand gives Traveller’s Hell an international platform before its commercial release in the region.
A stranger on a mountain road
MBC Studios released the international trailer on November 5. The story follows a young woman who, driving along a remote mountain road, unwittingly picks up a serial killer posing as a stranded motorist, Deadline reported. Arab News describes the film as a fast-moving thriller that blends fantasy elements with psychological suspense. It was shot entirely in Saudi Arabia.
The screenplay was written by Osamah Almuslim, the Saudi author of the bestselling novel on which the film is based. The cast is led by Adwa Bader, alongside Basil Alsole, Mohammed Ali, Shojaa Nashat and Aziz Gharbawi. The Arabic title of the film is Jaheem Al Aabireen.
A landmark for its director
First announced in 2024, the project marks a milestone for MBC Studios, both as a female-led genre story and as Alomair’s debut feature, Deadline noted. The director co-wrote and directed Whispers, one of Netflix’s first original series with Saudi Arabia, made in the wake of the country’s opening up of its entertainment sector in 2017.
For MBC Studios, the film is also a bet on genre storytelling rooted in local literature: adapting a bestselling Saudi thriller with its own author as screenwriter gives the production a ready-made readership in the kingdom. For Alomair, it is a move from the small screen to a theatrical feature with a pan-Arab release.
Regional release schedule
After Cairo, the film goes on general release in Saudi cinemas on November 19, according to the schedule announced by MBC Group and reported by Arab News. It will then open from November 26 in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan, before reaching Egyptian screens on December 3.
The premiere adds to a growing Saudi presence on the regional festival circuit this autumn. Saudi productions also lead the Gulf selection at this year’s Doha Film Festival, while the kingdom’s Oscar entry, A Matter of Life and Death, is heading to the Hollywood Arab Film Festival, Arab News reported. For Saudi genre cinema, which has only recently begun to reach wide audiences, a world premiere in Cairo followed by a pan-Arab release is a significant test of commercial appeal.