MIXED MESSAGES FOR FILM INDUSTRY: Questions over political motives behind the awards at last week's National Festival for Egyptian Cinema and a decision by the head of the Actors Union to limit opportunities for Arab actors in Egyptian films have focused attention on what has sometimes seemed a beleaguered industry, while a Paris tribute to the career of French film producer Humbert Balsan is drawing attention to the benefits of foreign cooperation in Egyptian cinema Making space for Egypt's actors? A decision to limit the roles played by Arab actors in Egyptian-made films has created havoc in the industry, reports Rania Khallaf In a move allegedly designed to give greater opportunities to young Egyptian actors, Ashraf Zaki, head of the Egyptian Actors Union, earlier this month decreed that Arab actors should not be allowed to appear in more than two Egyptian-made films per year. The decision was made in order "to protect the Egyptian cinema industry and to give more space for the hundreds of young Egyptian actors who are idle for most of the year," Zaki said However, hostile reactions to the new decree, both from Arab actors and from prominent Egyptian artists, may have come as a surprise. Egyptian scriptwriter Waheed Hamed, for example, has been waging relentless attacks on Zaki in the media, describing his decision as "superficial and ineffective." Hamed, who is preparing for his next film The Promise in which an Arab actress, Asser Yassin, will play the main role, has also raised the issue of joint Arab productions, warning that the Media Production City in Dubai will take over Egypt's present leading role in the Arab film industry should Zaki's decision be allowed to stand. The Egyptian minister of culture, Farouk Hosni, has also been drawn into the controversy. After failing to find agreement on the issue between the Actors Union and the Chamber of the Cinema Industry, Hosni has ordered the two organisations to meet again in order to come up with a solution. Cairo, Hosni said, "is the cultural and political capital of the Arab world," and "we cannot sacrifice its unique position" through decisions that might put it in danger. Zaki's decision entails the withdrawal of work licenses for young Egyptian and Arab actors and singers, in order to protect Union members, who have complained that their work is being threatened by the emergence of an unprecedented number of young actors. The problem of the growing numbers of Arab actors driving out Egyptian ones first emerged two years ago, Zaki said, when he was elected head of the Actors Union. "I discovered that Arab actors were being used in productions in an unprofessional way," he said, adding that "I am not against the use of Arab actors. On the contrary, I appreciated Syrian actor Tayim Hassan playing the role of King Farouk in a recent television drama series." While Zaki has said that his decision was made in order to protect Egypt's actors, the leftist daily paper Al-Badeel this week wrote that Zaki had not consulted the members of the Union, some 1,500 actors, before taking his decision. In an interview with the Weekly, Caroleen Khalil, a young Egyptian actress whose debut film Have we Met Before?is currently on release, said that the decision had been taken in a bid to regulate some of the many "messy issues" plaguing the acting profession. "The decision applies to Egyptian actors who are not members of the Actors Union," she said, "who are now allowed to act only three times a year." While Zaki's ruling will not necessarily have immediately positive results, she said, it would "at least force film producers to think again before they give roles to unprofessional and untalented young actors and actresses who are allowed to become stars overnight just because they look good on camera." "There are many issues that need to be addressed concerning the cinema industry in Egypt, but the media tends to focus only on the issue of Arab actors," she said. However, whatever the thinking behind the decision may have been, the consequences of it this week threatened to go beyond purely artistic circles. The ministry of trade and industry (MTI) issued a statement, for example, saying that Zaki's ruling contradicted efforts made to liberate service sectors, including audio-visual services, between Egypt and the Arab countries. Some officials said that Zaki's move might lead to a slump in demand for Egyptian movies in Arab markets. Waleed El-Nuzahy, chairman of the world trade unit at the MTI, was quoted in the daily Al-Ahram as saying that the decision was at odds with the government's approach towards encouraging pan-Arab trade in services, as an initial step towards establishing an Arab Common Market. It also contradicted Egypt's efforts to provide more work opportunities for Egyptian workers on a temporary basis in different service sectors, he said. Zaki's decision is also out of step with the history of the Egyptian film industry, which has long had close connections to Arab markets. During the first half of the last century, Egyptian cinema had depended heavily on non-Egyptian Arab actors from Greater Syria and Iraq, some of whom -- like Naguib El-Rihani, who died some 50 years ago -- remain to date among the most popular movie stars in Egypt. In the 1970s, prominent Egyptian actors like Fareed Shawki, Nahed Sherief, Faten Hamama and Mariam Fakhr Eddin moved to Syria and Lebanon to take part in films produced by the Syrian private sector. Had joint efforts of this sort continued, a flourishing and integrated Arab cinema industry could have been the result, one that was capable of representing the Arab world at international cinema festivals and competitions. According to the Lebanese film director Sobhi Seif Eddin, chairman of the Artists Syndicate in Lebanon, "during the sixties and seventies, Lebanon was a haven for all Egyptian artists without any sort of discrimination." Zaki's decision to exclude non-Egyptian actors from Egyptian-made films, or to reduce their participation in them, was "an emotional decision made for political or personal gain," he said. In his manifesto for the Actors Union elections, Zaki pledged "to protect the dignity of Egyptian artists and art." However, he has since agreed to the participation of belly-dancer Bossy Samir in a television series called A Window on the World, which contradicts a previous decision to ban Egyptian and Arab belly-dancers from working in television drama. The present controversy has only underlined questions about Zaki's leadership of the Union, and his apparent habit of issuing ill-thought- out decisions. Many observers have asked what the real percentage of Arab actors working legally or illegally in Egypt is, and have questioned the urgency of the need to act against them. Arab representation in Egyptian cinema mostly comes from only three countries: Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. As Al-Ahram Weekly was going to press, news reports disclosed that the executive council of the Actors Union had met and agreed to exempt non-Egyptian actors with a record of merit in the Egyptian cinema from the limitation imposed on new comers, granting them an equal treatment to Egyptian actors. On the other hand, Zaki has met with the Minister of Information Anas El-Fiki, and discussed ways of solving the different problems facing his union's members, especially with production companies. The last minute solution not withstanding, the present crisis highlighted the chaotic order prevailing in film industry in Egypt. It has become clear that much of the old policies supposedly promoting the industry, including the National Festival for Egyptian Cinema which closed last week, are no longer sufficient. The modest prizes awarded at the festival do not provide enough incentives for filmakers, particularly in the light of the increasing costs of film production. In 2000, for example, director Atef Hatata won the festival's debut film prize of LE 10,000 for his feature Closed Doors, but he has since stopped working. Similarly, director Hany Khalifa, whose film Sahar El-Layali won the 2004 prize, has not produced any film since.
