First Saudi Student Wins Yugo BAFTA Award

Rafif Kalantan has become the first student from Saudi Arabia to win the 2023 Yugo British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).

The Yugo BAFTA Student Awards is an annual event celebrating the works of the next generation of talented and innovative storytellers from around the globe.

The 15 finalists for this year were chosen from over 700 submissions by students from 30 different countries.

Elliot Knight hosted the 2023 Yugo BAFTA Student Awards on Thursday, July 27th, at Rooftop Cinema Club Arts District in Los Angeles.

The films and projects were competing for the top honors - the BAFTA Student Film Award for Animation, the BAFTA Student Film Award for Documentary, the BAFTA Student Film Award for Live Action, the BAFTA Student Award for Games, and the BAFTA Student Awards for Immersive. 

Kalantan received the award in the games category for her submission "Eros Xavier's Love Solutions," becoming the first female director and the first non-European to win a BAFTA award in this category.

The Saudi student's work is a 2.5D narrative-driven puzzle-like game in which gamers play as Eros, a retired cupid, works towards breaking apart couples instead of bringing them together, and he does so by manipulating objects in the couples' homes.

NEOM funded Kalatan's studies at the National Film and Television School. This two-year intensive training program included acquiring skills such as game design, visual effects, directing, and much more.

“I am honored to have been selected as the winner of such a globally renowned award, especially being the first female director and first non-European to win this category,” Kalantan said.

She added: “This wonderful achievement also showcases the capabilities of the developers from the Kingdom and the Middle East as a whole, and how the game industry in the region has a lot of potential.