The Red Sea Film Festival at its second edition boldly rolled out the red carpet.

The festival opened with the MENA premiere of Shekhar Kapur’s UK romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? starring Lily James, Shazad Latif and Emma Thompson.

Introducing the film, Kapur mentioned the need for greater MENA prominence on the international stage. “The winds need to change. For too long, the winds have come from the west to the east. Somewhere in the desert sands of this nation, the winds need to rise again.”

What’s Love… sees a documentary filmmaker capture the arranged – or assisted – marriage of her next door neighbour who is of Pakistani heritage. The film raises questions of cultural and religious traditions, including around Islam. Some jokes may have surprised Saudi audiences, including a gay character taking marijuana who jokes that “if a man lies with another man, he should be stoned”; and a comparison between assisted marriage and assisted suicide.

Other guests in attendance included actors Sharon Stone, Michelle Rodriguez, Freida Pinto and Priyanka Chopra Jonas; UK actor Henry Golding and UK director Gurinder Chadha; Oscar-nominated filmmakers Nadine Labaki and Kaouther Ben Hania; plus leading regional luminaries including directors Haifaa Al Mansour, George Khabbaz and Soudade Kaadane.

The party in the beautiful garden of the Ritz was alcohol-free, but dancing still succeeded, vigorously.

The night closed with a concert to several hundred festival attendees from US pop superstar Bruno Mars, who is touring the region and who played hits including ‘Just The Way You Are’, ‘Locked Out Of Heaven’ and ‘Uptown Funk’