CAIRO: The debate over cultural normalization with Israel continued this week in Egypt and took news headlines by storm, after a film festival organized by the French Embassy's cultural center in Cairo was canceled over the Participation of an Israeli Filmmaker. The matter raised controversy and outrage among Egyptian participants, while two Egyptian directors and one actor withdrew from the festival and others threatened to take the same step if the Cultural Center insisted on the participation and the screening of the Israeli film. Normalization with Israel has always raised divisions among Egyptians, especially within intellectual, political and even religious circles. Some consider simply visiting the Palestinian territories as direct involvement in the normalization process with the Jewish state, because of being forced to have Israeli endorsement of the visit and of having an Israeli stamp glued into the traveler’s passport. Although Egypt has diplomatic ties with Israel since the signing of the Camp David peace treaty in 1979, the vast majority of Egyptians refuse to deal with Israelis, even culturally. Normalization with Israel has become an overwhelming topic in the Egyptian press recently. The controversy and the outrage led the French Foreign Ministry to call off the event, following judges' decision to remove a documentary directed by an Israeli woman. The film has sparked a political and cultural tension between Egypt, Israel and France. The film, “Almost Normal,” was directed by Keren Ben-Rafael and was scheduled to take part in the “Rencontres de l'Image” festival organized by the French Embassy's cultural center (CFCC) in Cairo from April 8 to 15. The movie tells the story of a 12-year-old boy searching for his birthday. Two weeks ago, an Egyptian panel of judges found out that the film was directed by an Israeli. One of the judges, filmmaker Ahmed Atef, announced his resignation and withdrew from the festival the following week. In response, the French cultural center in Cairo decided to remove the Israeli film from the festival, to ease the controversy. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was informed about the incident and ordered the cultural center's managers to put ‘Almost Normal' back on the list of participating films. “If this movie was found to be valuable, it must not be boycotted only because of the director's origin,” the French foreign minister said. The Egyptians refused to accept the decision. “If the Israeli film is screened despite our objection, we'll all quit,” the entire panel of judges declared, explaining that they were against “any cultural cooperation with Israel.” Kouchner then issued another a new instruction. “As this film appears to be causing trouble, there is no point in holding the festival in Cairo,” he said, and canceled the event. Three years ago, another Israeli film – “The Band's Visit” – was removed from Egypt's international film festival due to the organizers' “objection to normalization.” Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki showed surprise at the position and the recent statements issued by the French Foreign Ministry. The spokesman said “Egyptian artists have exercised their right to full participation in or apologize for any cultural event based on their attitudes and opinions, and that this right is guaranteed to them according to the Egyptian constitution, and it is therefore unacceptable from any foreign party to comment on it.” He added that “we [Egypt] do not comment on the attitudes of French filmmakers that they make in accordance with their convictions.” The spokesman noted that “it was more appropriate for the French side to try to correct mistakes instead of commenting on the attitudes of Egyptian artists.” Egyptian filmmakers protested the participation in a statement on behalf of the filmmakers syndicate, where its chairman Mosad Fouda objected to the screening of the Israeli film. He said in the statement that “the syndicate is very concerned about the events that took place last week, where many Egyptian artists and filmmakers have withdrawn one by one from the festival to protest the participation of an Israeli director who had served in the IDF before.” These filmmakers have expressed deep concern at the selection of the film that was forced upon them without reference to them and to withdraw the film without an apology for “choice and the decision of the French Foreign Ministry to the re-screening of the program against the will of filmmakers.” Egyptians then accused some French people of “trying to discredit the filmmakers, who withdrew, and accused them of racism and anti-Semitism,” the syndicate said. The filmmakers union issued a decision to reject all kinds of cultural normalization and dealing with Israeli artists and refused screening any Israeli film in any cultural event in Egypt, because of the “racist and brutal violations exercised by the Zionist regime against Palestinians and against humanity.” Days before the French decision to call off the festival, a young independent Egyptian filmmaker Neveen Shalaby told al-Youm al-Saba'a that she was not willing to withdraw or boycott the festival just because an Israeli filmmaker is participating. “Although I rejected all the Israeli brutal practices, I also refuse escaping from the confrontation as the boycott that would hurt the reputation of Egyptian creative filmmakers,” al-Shalaby said. She considered boycotting such cultural events “hurts the reputation of Egyptian creativity, while the Israeli Cinema is achieving success one after another in international film festivals.” As for the fear of being accused of normalization, she said that “people do not understand the meaning of the word normalization, which is an invention we make ourselves, and the participation in the festival does not mean that we condone and approve of the Israeli actions against Palestinians.” She stressed that consideration should be to “our problems alone,” instead of talking about things that will not help, saying that “Palestine would not be liberated if she withdraws from a festival attended by an Israeli.” BM
