Last week's Woman Film Festival included a range of banned and risqué films. Rania Khallaf enjoyed the screenings Censorship is magnetic -- it filled the two concert halls at the Creative Arts Centre to overflowing, drawing in a wider audience than the usual, high- brow crowd. But Heba Yousry's 11- minute documentary, Profession Woman, proved to be a powerful experience irrespective of its status as banned, exposing the heart-breaking world of prostitution and policemen's dealings with it: a "jump cut" technique helped grab attention, balancing the stories of the four women featured -- all ashamed of their profession, all distressed -- while close-ups emphasised their emotions. The one glitch was in the script, also by Yousry: too many questions about religion, which seemed irrelevant and naïve. "Do you believe you will go to heaven?" was answered with defiance. "Yes, I will go to heaven," one woman said. "I know I am pure on the inside, cleaner than any of you. God knows why I have to do this." Ayten Amin's 15-minute Her Man, based on a short story by Ahdaf Souief, broached the taboo subject of lesbianism -- a relationship that develops out of rivalry between the two wives of one man -- bringing the provincial practice of early marriage to startling light. In , on the other hand, Kamla Abu Zikri confuses the issue of freedom with that of fear of God. A veiled girl in an as yet Platonic relationship with a young man, whose only consummation is periodic meetings on Six October Bridge, is spotted by her uncle -- and in the ensuing confrontation swears by the Quran that it was not her; she is seen repenting in the next scene. The feeling is that the director's mind is in a mess, but perhaps she is reflecting on the chaos of the contemporary Egyptian young woman's mind. A kind of feminist strains ran through the entire programme, though it says more about the growing number of Arab woman directors -- and their self- awareness as women -- than any ideology per se. Michael Beyouh's 15- minute A Blue Cover, another "taboo- breaking" film, is about a young prostitute who ends up with her own father. Daring and explicit though it was, it was limited to the girl's viewpoint -- the monologue in particular made it rather more boring than it could have been. But the feminist theme was driven home. In one series of screenings, the work of female film students shown at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival was showcased. Syan Hayder's 17-minute A Mother (USA) -- the story of an alcoholic mother who, having abandoned her baby to the care of a poor woman, comes back to realise she cannot have it back -- set the tone. At the inaugural session, on the other hand, Yousry's 21- minute, tragicomic Another Passion, was among the highlights, testifying to this film student's remarkable talent. It comprises a dialogue between mother and daughter in which the former's dream of becoming an actress is dismissed by the latter as dangerous and haram, playing out the potential conflict of art and religion until the father bursts in and puts an end to the dream itself. The festival proved quite popular, with hordes of viewers arriving on the Opera House grounds, but no celebrities at the inauguration. One of four annual events planned by the Cadre Foundation, headed by film critic Samir Farid, it was not censorship but lack of funds that stood in its way. "Though the first round was very successful, marked by high attendance and heated debates between directors and audience, there were many challenges," says Aliya El-Biali, festival director. "The budget was only LE20,000, provided by Media House and other voluntary organisations. Everyone who worked for the festival was a volunteer. For the next round, we need no less than 600,000 if we are to invite prominent woman directors and produce quality printed material. If national cultural organisations fail us, we will look to foreign organisations. But whatever the difficulties," she added with a big smile, "the festival has at least managed to break the unwritten rule against tackling women's everlasting suffering in Arab society. That in itself is a significant accomplishment."
