Market forces, censorship and film: Hani Mustafa reviews a cinematic year With December the usual repetitive questions arrive to the minds of most journalists and critics. What were the most important events of the year? Who are the winners and losers? What projects are expected to commence or continue in the coming year? As far as Egyptian cinema is concerned 2008 appeared to mark the beginning of a phase of transition, the first step down a long road. Such early optimism did not last long, marred by a series of unfortunate events. In June news started to circulate that Youssef Chahine, internationally Egypt's best known director, had suffered a brain haemorrhage. His subsequent death was to deprive Egyptian cinema of one of its most distinctive voices. Chahine's films invariably stirred controversy among audience and critics alike. His films were often accused of being made for intellectuals and he was regularly accused of making movies that passed over the heads of ordinary cinema-goers. The truth is that Chahine passed through several stages in his work as a filmmaker. Starting with Baba Amin in 1950, his career would encompass fantasies, comedies such as Enta Habibi in 1957, and melodramas such as 1954's Siraa Fil Wadi (A Struggle in the Valley). These films had a depth of drama as well as a compassionate understanding of the plight of the poor. Starting from the mid-1960s his films became increasingly meditative, a phase that ended with Al-Yom Al-Sadis (The Sixth Day) in 1986 and included Al-Ikhtiar (The Choice, 1970) and Al-Asfour (The Sparrow, 1972). Then came the simple political films, 1997's Al-Massir (Destiny) and 1999's Al-Akhar (The Other), ending with his final film, Heya Fawda (Chaos), a simplistic treatment of social and political conditions, released in 2007. For more than half a century Chahine was able to steer away from the production mechanisms that dominate cinema in Egypt, avoiding the dictates of producers and the market as he sought to voice his own cinematic vision. He actively searched for and found alternative sources of finance, depending on foreign production companies, particularly French. It is an example that a number of young filmmakers are anxious to emulate. Current patterns of production, they would argue, do not allow the industry to present the best that it has. At the beginning of 2008 this new wave of independent filmmakers was faced with a dilemma when the Higher Committee for Festivals refused to allow the Cairo Independent Film Festival to open at the same time as the Cairo International Film Festival. The first round of the independent festival had run concurrently with its 2006 mainstream counterpart, but the second round was refused permission to do so unless all participating films were submitted to the censorship authorities for permits. Fortunately, by the end of the year a new determination had surfaced and the festival was eventually held, largely due to the support of the Goethe Institute which agreed to host the event with or without official approval, though not in tandem with the Cairo International Film Festival. This was not the end of the independent film industry's struggles. Ain Shams, directed by Ibrahim El-Batout, was subjected to interference by the censorship. Directed and produced by El-Batout, who also co-wrote the script with Tamer El-Said, Ain Shams was refused the permits necessary for screening in commercial cinemas on the grounds that it had not secured the permits necessary to begin shooting. The censorship office suggested that the director and writer submit the script for approval. El-Batout refused, arguing that since the film had already been shot it was pointless to seek approval for the script. Ironically, the film received several awards from festivals abroad as an Egyptian film while the censorship authorities continued to consider it a foreign production. Ain Shams fell like a pebble in the stagnant waters of Egypt's censorship bureaucracy which requires approval to be granted to the script and then to the film itself. Rejection of the script prevents the film from being shot in the first place while rejection of the final product only prevents it from being screened in Egypt. Ain Shams somehow managed to circumvent this heavy- handed process. Independent cinema offers a refuge to many young directors. Ahmed Rashwan was able to complete his first feature film, Basra, in 2008. He chose to produce it himself, using digital technology, after the script was approved by the censor but no producer was willing to take on the project. He cut the budget drastically, made the film, but then faced the problem of distribution. Finally he received funding for the project from the Syrian producer Haitham Hakki, who financed its transfer from digital to the 35mm format more suited to viewing on a cinema screen. The film went on to win awards for cinematographer Victor Kredi at the Valencia Film Festival and for the screenplay in the Arab Competition at the Cairo International Film Festival. The hurdles placed in the way of creativity by market mechanisms also faced director Ahmed Maher, who eventually managed to get a production grant for the script of his first feature length film, Al-Musafer (The Traveller), from the Ministry of Culture 30 years after it produced its last feature length film. The shooting of Al-Musafer started in the middle of 2007 and went on for four months spread over 2008. Now it is in post production in Italy. The film stars Omar El-Sherif, Khaled El-Nabawi and Lebanese singer Serene Abdel-Nour. It is produced by the Cultural Development Fund and the National Film Centre. The complex screenplay is the reason it took so much time to shoot. It is written in three parts, depicting three days in the life of the main characters. The first part takes place in Port Said in the 1940s and required the building of a ship that was designed by art director Onsi Abu Saif as well as period costumes and accessories. The second part, says Maher, was even more difficult, set in Alexandria in the 1970s, with most of the scenes outdoors, "it took a long time to scout locations given that the city has changed so much". The third part takes place in modern day Cairo. In July cinema had a date with politics as tensions grew between Cairo and Tehran over the Iranian documentary film Executing the Pharaoh, about the assassination of president Anwar El-Sadat at the hands of Muslim extremists belonging to Al-Jihad. Among the assassins was Khaled El-Islamboli, who was executed in 1982. The problem with the film starts with its title, a reflection of Iranian hardliners' views that Sadat was a traitor and El-Islamboli a martyr. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry called in the head of the Iranian diplomatic mission while articles appeared in the national media denouncing the Iranian film. Mohamed Hassan El-Alfi, editor- in-chief of the ruling party's official mouthpiece, went as far as to suggest that Egypt produce a documentary about "Khomeini the Bloody Imam", highlighting the Ayatollah's responsibility for "terrorist operations".
