Filmmaker speaks to Mohamed El-Assyouti about Maali Al-Wazir (His Excellency the Minister), the feature with which the present round of the Cairo Film Festival opens The 26th Cairo International Film Festival's opening number, Maali Al-Wazir (His Excellency the Minister), is 's 13th collaboration with script- writer Wahid Hamed. Here too the film industry's number one action man resumes his recent trek into controversial terrain. Barely a year since the two figures' prime-time Ramadan television serial, Awan Al-Ward (Time of the Roses) dealt with the ticklish issue of Muslim-Copt relations, their penultimate silver-screen offering, Deil Al-Samaka (Fish Tail, 2001), which features a homosexual character, was subject to censorial critique; the latter has yet to be released. "Hamed's scripts are thought-provoking," Seif responds to the question of why he likes them, "especially when they analyse the link between authority and corruption. Today there is an increasing demand for transparency at both the local and international levels, which gives such controversial fare an added relevance. For the first time in Egypt, two high-ranking officials, the Giza governor and the Minister of Finance, were sent to prison on corruption charges. This kind of transparency remains, at some level, unprecedented. And so is Maali Al- Wazir, whose theme was never treated by an Egyptian film before now. The minister's office is never specified as such -- the protagonist is simply an Everyman-in-power, which makes the drama appropriately universal -- and Hamed's often comic treatment builds a connection between the character and the viewer, who nonetheless inevitably fails to identify with him. "I expect Maali Al-Wazir will stir as much debate as Awan Al-Ward. We have yet to find out if the censor will have a problem with it, but I'm glad we managed to make it in full sight of the government. Perhaps government officials underestimate the responsibility they bear, perhaps they will not find out about the film until everybody else has seen it. It will be a sign of improved democracy if the film isn't butchered before its release. In the festival it will be screened in full, and if significant omissions have to be made subsequently, only the release copies will be altered; the negative will stay intact." The film is Seif's first collaboration with Ahmed Zaki, the notoriously hard-to-control actor who has recently played both Nasser and Sadat. Yet Seif's well-known capacity for containment, his soothing presence seems to have eased the tension. "We got on well enough," he says. "During the final stages of editing the script we had lengthy discussions, and he promised he would be as obedient as any extra on the set," Seif beams. "Remarkably, for the 39-day shoot, even though he sometimes had to be present on the set for 16 hours on end, he never complained about any of it. And the way in which he brought the character to life was reminiscent of Charlton Heston or James Mason, in fact. I would claim that his performance in this film is one of his best to date. It will at least make those who attributed the success of the president films to Zaki's ability to impersonate strong characters eat their words. He is a brilliant actor, and deep inside him there is a kind-hearted country boy. Franklin J Schaffner, with whom I trained, insists that a good director induces, rather than demands, obedience. Only those who lack self-confidence will get into power struggles with actors. I know the final decision will be mine, so I listen, I take in, I discuss, the way I do with my students at the Film Institute. This way you get the best out of your actor, whoever he happens to be." Click to view caption But why should the man who made his name as the action genre's most accomplished champion delve quite so deeply into politics? "I am essentially a cinefile," Seif interjects. "I like Hollywood. Howard Hawks said, 'I'd like to make the best movie in each genre.' That's my motto, and if you look at my work you'll see I'm trying my hand at different genres all the time. I've done comedies, musicals, psychological thrillers as well as action flicks." Is he buying into the notion that Third World film should focus on social drama, avoiding the expense of the action genre? "Special effects technology has marginalised the role of the stuntsman while at the same time raising production costs. So, in reality, the bigger the market, the greater your chance of affording action films. The makers of a film like Mafia, which involved a foreign crew and a low revenues-to-expenses ratio, will think twice before embarking on a similar venture. Less expensive films in the style of Clint Eastwood or The Usual Suspects, even LA Confidential, seem to me to be the more viable action-oriented option." But expense is not the only incentive to make a politically charged film; often such films are problematic because of the moralising "message" with which they are dramatically resolved; for the serious filmmaker and the filmmaker who believes in entertainment alike, such in-your-face tactics would seem to be undesirable. "Political films point to problems, they do not solve them. This is the conviction of someone like Costa Gavras, whose cocktail of dramatic elements appeals to me, from the political perspective, far more than the straight political offerings of Francesco Rosi or Damiano Damiani, say. The most effective lesson is the most painlessly delivered one, and the difficulty resides rather in making your point -- helping enhance the audience's awareness of a particular issue -- without spoonfeeding or preaching to them. Excessive sophistication is never my thing -- I walked out of a film by Godard during the last Cannes Film Festival, for the first time in my life -- and I don't think it suits the political purpose. A movie, any drama, is about enabling people to reenact an experience they never actually had. Without that element, no 'message' or purpose will ever be communicated. "I don't know if Maali Al-Wazir will necessarily be a commercial hit. You can only assess the commercial success of any given movie within the social conditions of its time. Often commercial success has little to do with artistic value. But a film like Khalli Balak min Zouzou, on which I was Hassan El-Imam's assistant, for example, was successful because it reflected a genuine desire to transcend the 1967 defeat and move ahead. Bergman's three commandments for directors are: to be entertaining, all the time; to obey the dictates of their artistic, not necessarily moral, conscience; and to make every film as if it were their last. Entertainment is a relative thing, but I try hard to keep my audience entertained. In the end you should not take yourself too seriously. Every film, even the worst film, takes a great deal of effort to make. And, however much its maker wants to feel artistically and intellectually realised, the audience should never feel as if the LE15 or LE20 they paid to see the movie was embezzled out of their pockets. Even the greatest movie has to be enjoyed." MOVIE EXTRAVAGANZA: The 26th Cairo International Film Festival opened on Tuesday with 's Maali Al-Wazir (His Excellency the Minister). The opening ceremony, held on the Opera House grounds, was inaugurated by Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni. It featured four dance tableaux performed by the Reda Troupe and choreographed by Mahmoud Reda as well as a theatrical performance directed by Intisar Abdel-Fattah and an address by Cherif El-Shoubashi, the festival's new director. Present were the Greek actress Irene Papas, and the Anglo-Indian filmmaker Ismail Merchant, head of the festival's jury this year. Papas and Merchant, along with three Egyptian actors (Madiha Yusri, Ezzat El-Alaili and Iman) received the Festival's special Lotus Award in recognition of their life-long achievement. Ongoing until 25 October, the festival will present movie fans with the full spectrum of contemporary film all over the world. (For film programme see "Listings") photo: Abdel-Hamid Eid
