Ta Films is positioning itself as the go-to home for underrepresented MENA and South Asian storytellers, with an artist-first approach that prioritizes artistic integrity over quick commercial wins. The company insists it's building sustainable partnerships with regional talent who trust the leadership's deep industry connections.
Whispers from Cannes suggest Pandya Malhotra's departure from Red Sea wasn't entirely amicable — insiders note she left mid-festival planning cycle, which created immediate chaos for the Saudi event. The timing of Ta Films' aggressive expansion raises questions about whether she was already laying groundwork while still employed by the festival.
Pandya Malhotra stepped down as general manager of Red Sea Film Festival to focus on Ta Films; Screen Project acquisition finalized in 2025 added Nadia Eliewat as CEO and creative producer. 'The Station' premiered positively at Cannes Critics' Week in May 2026, with Variety critic Jay Weissberg calling it 'a long-gestating, female-centered project set in Yemen that's well worth the wait.'
Saudi Arabia's massive investment in building a film industry infrastructure is now facing an uncomfortable reality: the executives who built that vision are taking their expertise and Rolodexes elsewhere. Watch who follows Pandya Malhotra out the door.
Shivani Pandya Malhotra has officially left the building — well, the festival. The former general manager of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Festival is now fully committed to her Dubai-based production company Ta Films, and sources say the split was messier than either party is letting on publicly. Pandya Malhotra co-founded Ta Films in 2022 alongside Sangeeta Desai, who brings serious heavyweight credentials as former global COO at Fremantle and Group CEO at Dubai satellite pay-TV service OSN.
In 2025, the company made a major move by acquiring Jordan-based production house Screen Project from Nadia Eliewat, who now serves as Ta Films' CEO and creative producer. That's three female execs with deep roots in Middle East media — and they're not hiding their ambitions. The company's first two features have already turned heads in the industry.
Their debut was "Yellow Bus," a 2023 Toronto-bowing drama from Middle East-based American director Wendy Bednarz about a mother's devastating quest for justice after tragedy strikes. But it was this year's Cannes premiere of Sara Ishaq's "The Station" that truly announced Ta Films' arrival on the international stage. The Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker's debut feature — tracking sisters in conflict over how to protect their young brother from mandatory military enlistment — drew praise from Variety critic Jay Weissberg, who called it 'a long-gestating, female-centered project set in Yemen that's well worth the wait.' So what's next for this ambitious trio?
Pandya Malhotra told Variety the company plans to shepherd two to three films annually with a focus on 'artistically distinctive' projects that remain 'commercially structured and viable, with nice international reach.' They're currently developing six projects, including two from Saudi director Mujtaba Saeed — "Drowning," about a man racing against time to prevent his murderous father from escaping execution through Islamic legal practice known as diya (blood money), and "Mecca, Berlin," which follows a young man traveling from the holy city to Germany for his father's cancer treatment.
The real tea? According to industry insiders who spoke off the record, Pandya Malhotra's departure from Red Sea happened mid-planning cycle — hardly ideal timing for a festival still building its international reputation. Whether she was already laying groundwork for Ta Films while drawing a Saudi salary remains unclear, but her ability to immediately hit the ground running with established talent relationships suggests this wasn't a sudden pivot.
'The great thing about the three of us is that a lot of regional talent knows us,' Pandya Malhotra acknowledged to Variety. Many creators have already approached them with projects, she noted — which raises an uncomfortable question for Saudi Arabia's film ambitions: when you invest millions in building industry infrastructure, what happens when the people who built it decide to compete against you?
