It s the Arabs that force us to compromise, not the West, said one director Cairo: What was meant to be a kudos session for Arab actors of international acclaim, spiraled into a war of words, Friday, about the declining state of Arab cultural and the narrow-mindedness of Egyptian critics. The panel of Arab honorees included Palestinian director Rachid Mashrawi ("Curfew ), Algerian director Rachid Benhadj ("For Bread Alone"), Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud ("Kingdom of Heaven ) and Egyptian director Ali Selim ( Sweet Land ). The conference kicked off with praise of Ghassan Massoud roles in Kingdom of Heaven and Valley of the Wolves. When asked whether art carries a social responsibility, Massoud shrewdly answered that art should definitely be responsible, but not conformist. During the filming of Kingdom of Heaven, about the Arab retake of Jerusalem from the Crusades, director Ridley Scott asked Massoud whether he believed Saladin was a man of religion or a head of state. Massoud believed that Saladin was the latter. One critic suggested that Scott perhaps used this question to check if Massoud s beliefs were attuned with his own. Irritated, Massoud responded that Scott is a free thinker and a gifted filmmaker who wouldn t have embarked on such a project if he planned to ask the cast to endorse his conceptions. Director Ali Selim was asked why it s difficult for Arab filmmakers to break into Hollywood. Hollywood is closed to everyone. It s not nationalistic or racist. Hollywood is like a country club, if you re not a member, you won t get in, he fired back, at a disappointed audience. The question that triggered the debate concerned how Arab filmmakers compromise their vision when they seek finance from western institutions. Selim said that sometimes compromises can be seen as an opportunity that would give the filmmaker a bigger chance to make better movies. Director Mashrawi disagreed. We re facing lots of obstacles, especially with joint productions, but we must not compromise and we must preserve our identities. At that point, Benhadj gave the critics a piece of his mind. We are indeed facing problems with western co-production, he said But it s the Arabs who force us to compromise by indulging in the state of ignorance and inanity that defines our societies. He revealed that before resorting to the French and Italian production companies that financed his audacious adaptation of the 1952 Moroccan autobiography of the Nobel Prize winner Mohamed Choukri, he presented his script to tens of Arab producers, who literary threw his script out the window. He added that the, greedy, rigid mentality of Arab and Egyptian producers is the main reason behind the demise of Egyptian cinema. After his statement, an angry film critic from Al-Ahram newspaper burst out: I think your film is discourteous, morbid and disgusting and cinema should only present what s beautiful in this world. The reporter continued blathering amid the fuming crowd, to which Benhadj calmly replied: I m just tired of seeing other people from other nations telling our stories when we don t have the courage to tell them. The scene closed with the infamous reporter chasing Benhadj, notebook in hand, uttering the classic words: It s my right as a critic to criticize you!
