Saudi thriller Traveller's Hell heads to Cairo for its world premiere
MBC Studios will hold the world premiere of Traveller's Hell, a Saudi psychological thriller, at the 47th Cairo International Film Festival. Deadline also revealed the film's international trailer on 5 November.
A world premiere is the first public screening of a film anywhere. The festival selected the film for that slot, according to Broadcast Pro, which reported the selection on 4 November.
The story follows a young woman who unknowingly picks up a serial killer. He poses as a stranded motorist on a remote mountain road. Everything after that moment is the film's tension, and the trailer leans into it.
The film is adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Saudi author Osamah Almuslim, who also wrote the screenplay. Work on the project was first announced in 2024.
Hana Alomair directs. Traveller's Hell is her first feature film. She previously co-wrote and directed Whispers, one of Netflix's first original series made with Saudi Arabia.
The cast includes Adwa Bader, Basil Alsole, Mohammed Ali, Shojaa Nashat and Aziz Gharbawi.
The film will open in cinemas in Saudi Arabia on 19 November, two weeks after the trailer appeared. That makes the home release the next date on the calendar for the film.
For Saudi audiences, that is the moment to watch. For the wider film world, the project shows how a novel from one country can move through a regional festival and a local cinema release, with a streaming partner's earlier work in its background.
