The sixth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival has been postponed, the event’s Foundation has confirmed.

A note released to press on Monday explains that this year’s installment, originally set for Dec. 3-12 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2027.

It comes as the entire region deals with ongoing military tension amid the U.S.-Israeli-Iran war, with the threat of missile and drone strikes active and Saudi Arabia dealing with targeted attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis.

The decision follows “a comprehensive review of a range of considerations relating to the timing of the next edition, including the logistical requirements involved in staging an international event of this scale,” said the statement.

“It reflects the Foundation’s commitment to ensuring the Festival takes place at the right time and under the right conditions to deliver the experience for which the Red Sea International Film Festival has become known,” it continued. “As part of this continued commitment, the Foundation will introduce year-round programming at Culture Square in Historic Jeddah beginning in November 2026, establishing it as an ongoing destination for film screenings, cultural events and specialised film-industry programmes.”

Organizers have vowed that the festival will return in 2027 with a “renewed vision and a programme that continues to celebrate cinema and filmmakers from Saudi Arabia, the region and around the world.”

The Red Sea Film Festival has gone from strength to strength in recent years and funnelled much of its investment into attracting Hollywood A-listers to Jeddah, as well as its Red Sea Fund, Red Sea Labs and wider initiatives, which will continue to operate within the Foundation’s “year-round ecosystem.” Among the attendees last year were Michael Caine, Johnny Depp, Sean Baker, Juliette Binoche, Adrien Brody, Kirsten Dunst, Jessica Alba and Queen Latifah.

BAFTA winner Adeel Akhtar (Sherwood) and Academy Award nominee Ciarán Hinds (Belfast) have joined the cast of A24‘s BBC drama series Ministry of Time.

Also announced this morning are Hong Chau (The Whale), Tamara Lawrance (Get Millie Black), Emily Fairn (The Responder), Josh Finan (Say Nothing), Aisling Loftus (Sherwood), Tawfeek Barhom (Cairo Conspiracy) and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (120 Beats Per Minute) and Hélène Patarot (Paris, Je T’aime).

They join Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle in the series, which is based on Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel of the same name. Alice Birch (Normal People) is adapting the show, with Aneil Karia (Top Boy) is lead director on the six-part series, which is produced by Beef and Dreaming Whilst Black maker A24 for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

The show follows the professional friendship between Sophy (Hinds) and Graham (Howle), which “develops into an intense forbidden romance that reveals the transporting power of love across centuries, just as the sinister nature of the Ministry’s true intentions increasingly puts them in danger.”

Akhtar will play Quentin Ackerly, Sophy’s ‘handler’ at The Ministry, and while Aoife Hinds’ her real-life dad Ciarán will be Sophy’s father, Peter, with her mother, Patarot playing her on-screen mom Channary.

Hong will play Adela, the Vice-Secretary of Expatriation; Lawrance is Simellia, a ‘bridge’ alongside Sophy; Fairn will one of Commander Gore’s fellow ‘expats’, Margaret Kemble; Finan plays Captain Arthur Reginald-Smyth and Aisling Loftus is Anne Spencer. Barhom and Pérez Biscayart also star as the elusive Brigadier and Salese.

Filming on the six-part show is currently taking place in and around London, UK. A24 is executive producing alongside Birch, Bradley, Karia and Jo McClellan for the BBC. Frances du Pille is the producer and A24 has international distribution rights.