Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 13 december 2017
Saudi Arabia to allow movie theaters after decades of ban

By ABDUALLAH AL-SHIHRI Festival in February. The ted on screens across the
and AYA BATRAWY movie, which has been Arab world, but “any kind
Associated Press called the kingdom’s first of intimacy and love is con-
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia romantic comedy, tells the sidered taboo and a moral
(AP) — Saudi Arabia an- story of a civil servant who violation.”
nounced on Monday it falls for a Saudi girl whose “It’s a global conversation
will allow movie theaters Instagram posts have we need to have,” he said.
to open in the conserva- made her a local celebrity. Despite there being no
tive kingdom next year, for “We are essentially pio- movie theaters in Saudi
the first time in more than neers because we all took Arabia, young Saudi film-
35 years, in the latest so- risks to work in this industry,” makers have received
cial push by the country’s he said. “We were super government support and
young crown prince. lucky, because luck is al- recognition in recent
It’s a stark reversal in a ways a factor of whether years. The government has
county where movie the- we make it or not.” backed a Saudi film festival
aters were shut down in Even with the decades- that’s taken place for the
the 1980’s during a wave long ban on movie the- past few years in the east-
of ultraconservatism in the aters, Saudi filmmakers and ern city of Dhahran. This
country. Many of Saudi movie buffs were able to year, some 60 Saudi films
Arabia’s clerics view West- circumvent traditional cen- were screened.
ern movies and even Ara- sors by streaming movies The film “Wadjda” made
bic films made in Egypt and online and watching films history in 2013 by becom-
Lebanon as sinful. on satellite TV. ing the first Academy
Despite decades of ul- Many also traveled to Award entry for Saudi Ara-
traconservative dogma, neighboring countries like bia, though it wasn’t nomi-
Crown Prince Mohammed Bahrain and the United nated for the Oscars. The
bin Salman has sought to Arab Emirates to go to movie follows the story of a
ram through a number of movie theaters. 10-year-old girl who dreams
major social reforms with One Saudi Twitter on Mon- In this July, 23, 2017 file photo, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed of having a bicycle, just like
support from his father, King day user posted a picture bin Salman poses while meeting with Turkey’s President Recep boys have in her ultracon-
Salman. of the causeway linking Tayyip Erdogan in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. servative neighborhood
The crown prince is behind Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, Associated Press where men and women
measures such as lifting a writing “Good bye”. and how heavily edited the values. are strictly segregated and
ban on women driving next It was not immediately clear content will be. The government said it where boys and girls attend
year and bringing back if movie theaters would In a statement carried on will announce additional separate schools.
concerts and other forms have family-only sections, the state-run Saudi Press regulations in the coming The film was written and
of entertainment to satiate segregating women and Agency, the Ministry of Cul- weeks. directed by Saudi female
the desires of the country’s families from male-only au- ture and Information said Fageeh said that while director Haifaa al-Mansour,
majority young population. diences. Another unknown that movie content “will be he’s concerned with the who shot the film entirely in
The 32-year-old heir to the was whether most ma- subject to censorship” to censorship rules that might the kingdom.
throne’s social push is part jor Hollywood, Bollywood ensure films do not contra- be in place, he’s also con- That film and “Barakah
of his so-called Vision 2030, and Arabic movie releases dict Islamic law, or Shariah, cerned that scenes of vio- meets Barakah”, though
a blueprint for the country would be shown in theaters and the kingdom’s moral lence are typically permit- four years apart, tackle the
that aims to boost local issue of gender segrega-
spending and create jobs tion in Saudi Arabia, which
amid sustained lower oil remains largely enforced.
prices. The Saudi government
The Saudi government said projects that the opening
a resolution was passed of movie theaters will con-
Monday paving the way tribute more than 90 bil-
for licenses to be granted lion riyals ($24 billion) to the
to commercial movie the- economy and create more
aters, with the first cinemas than 30,000 jobs by 2030.
expected to open in March The kingdom says there
2018. will be 300 cinemas with
Many Saudis took to Twit- around 2,000 screens built
ter to express their joy at in the country by 2030.
the news, posting images Fageeh said it’s important
of buckets of movie the- the government provides
ater popcorn and moving even greater support to
graphics of people danc- local filmmakers now that
ing, fainting and crying. international films will domi-
“It’s spectacular news. We nate theaters.
are in a state of shock,” “There needs to be an ef-
said Saudi actor and pro- fort to be cognizant and
ducer, Hisham Fageeh. inclusive for this element
Fageeh starred in and co- of local films or we will be
produced the Saudi film completely flushed out
“Barakah Meets Barakah” because of the nature of
by director Mahmoud Sab- In this Friday, Aug. 25, 2017 photo, Saudi filmmaker Ali Kalthami stands next to the poster for his capitalism and will be op-
bagh, which premiered at film “Wasati” or “Moderate” and two other Saudi short films recently shown at Cinema Akil in erating in the margins,” he
the Berlin International Film Dubai, United Arab Emirates. said.q
Associated Press