Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen ’s road movie “Hijra,” about the bond formed between different generations of Saudi women during a journey across the desert, delves deep into the country’s multi-cultural DNA, intending to show the country’s little known aspect “as a melting pot,” says the director.

“Hijra,” which is Saudi’s Academy Award submission and is in competition at the Red Sea Film Festival this week, is the second feature from Ameen whose feminist fable “Scales” made a splash after launching from Venice in 2019.

Shot in a vast swathe of desert and in several Saudi cities and urban areas including Jeddah, Medina, AlUla and Neom, “Hijra” is set in 2001 and revolves around a Saudi grandmother named Sitti (Khayriya Nazmi) traveling from Taif to Mecca to perform the sacred ritual of

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