Festival in Focus: Saudi Film Festival Master Of Ceremonies Mohammed Elshehri Talks Journey From MC To Film & TV Fame

Melanie Goodfellow
·4 min read
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Actor Mohammed Elshehri belongs to a generation of emerging Saudi talents who first cut their teeth on YouTube and are now making their names in film and TV.

The rising star will be master of ceremonies at the upcoming Saudi Film Festival in the Eastern Province city of Dhahran, which will be celebrating its 10th edition from from May 2 to 9.

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Elshehri is just coming off the third season of the hit MBC Ramadan comedy TV series Road Trip (Sekket Safar).

The show follows the daily adventures and mishaps of three brothers trying to keep the family businesses of an inn, gas station and grocery store afloat, following the death of their father who appears to them as a ghost whenever they make a mistake.

Elshehri’s master of ceremonies role takes him back an earlier time in his career, as a TV and event presenter.

This work grew out of YouTube show Trailer, which he created around 2014, after coming to the conclusion he would never achieve his dream of becoming an actor on mainstream TV.

“I felt there was no chance I was ever going to get a role as an unknown,” he recounts. “I decided to stop being an actor and to do something around it instead. It was kind of Jimmy Kimmel style. It wasn’t criticism, it was more recommendations with a light, funny tone. I did three seasons.”

The second season caught Netflix’s eye and they started working with Elshehri to promote their shows in the region, even inviting him to the set of Spanish crime thriller Money Heist.

This work came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, but Elshehri says he was not too disheartened as he already wanted to move on.

“I saw it as a sign that it was time for me to stop,” he says.

Shortly after, he secured a supporting role in The Fates Hotel, an original series created for MBC platform Shahid.

The hit crime drama revolved around the illicit goings-on in a dilapidated hotel located on the outskirts of the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

“It was good for me because it showed people that I was an actor and not just a host,” he says.

Within a year, he had been approached for roles in Khalid Fahad’s 2022 feature Valley Road and Road Trip, which was developed to run in a primetime slot over the Ramadan religious period.

Elshehri says he felt immense pressure as the first season of Road Trip rolled out during the 2021 Ramadan.

“Everyone in the Arab region is watching TV when they break their fast. It wasn’t easy as an unknown actor,” he says.

“It’s a different experience from being on a show on a platform… On public TV, everyone watches and if they don’t like it, they’ll say it on the social networks… shows come under attack. But we felt we had something and with second season it went boom.”

Elshehri suggests the show’s success is due in part to the fact that Saudi audiences identify closely with the three fraternal protagonists.

“When I’m walking in the street. People come up to me all the time and say my character reminds them of cousin or a brother,” he says.

With the third season over with the end of Ramadan, Elshehri has yet to learn whether a fourth season will be greenlit. He suggests it is a format has more mileage in it yet.

In the meantime, he is in throes of negotiating a new role in a Saudi feature that is due to shoot in September.

Ahead of his Saudi Film Festival appeareance, he says it is a must-attend event for people in the burgeoning local film industry.

“We love this festival. It’s where we meet our family. The director Ahmed Amulla is one of a kind. He’s so humble. He is trying to help everyone. I know so many talented people who have found themselves at this festival.”

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