Jeddah Film Festival Canned at 11th Hour

posted on: Jul 20, 2009

Pressure from religious conservatives appears to be behind the last-minute cancellation of Saudi Arabia’s only film festival

Saudi Arabia’s only film festival was cancelled at the 11th hour on Friday after apparent pressure from religious elements within the highly conservative Islamic kingdom.

The Jeddah film festival, which was scheduled to open on Saturday with a lineup of 71 features from the Gulf and 15 European short films, had been a rare showcase for movie-makers in Saudi Arabia, where cinemas are virtually nonexistent.

“Late last night, the governorate of Jeddah notified us of the festival’s cancellation, after it received instructions from official parties. We were not told why,” festival organiser Mamdouh Salem told Reuters on Saturday. The move to cancel the festival suggests the kingdom’s cinephiles will have to continue to travel to neighbouring countries such as Bahrain, Egypt and Lebanon in order to enjoy films in cinemas.

Saudi writer Abdullah Al-Alami described the development as a “dark day for art and literature in our modern history”. He added: “There is a trend of attacking cultural festivities.”

“We were hoping that things like the Jeddah film festival, the Gulf film festival in Khobar, that these very humble efforts would lead the change. But we got the message it is not the time,” said film-maker Mahmoud Sabbagh.

It comes as something of a surprise as the authorities’ hardline attitude had appeared to be softening.

In December, a company owned by Saudi royal and media mogul Prince Alwaleed bin Talal arranged for public showings of local comedy production Menahi in Jeddah and another southern city. The film, which was screened before mixed-sex audiences, attracted such large numbers that it had to be shown up to eight times a day.

Prince Alwaleed himself was a major sponsor of the Jeddah film festival and an advocate of relaxing restrictions on public viewings. “Films and movie theatres will come inevitably,” he said in February.

But when Menahi was brought to the more conservative capital city of Riyadh, attempts were made to disrupt screenings by hardline Saudis, including volunteers with the kingdom’s feared religious police organisation, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Many Saudi conservatives believe that films from the kingdom’s more liberal neighbours violate religious taboos. For instance, the head of the religious police, Ibrahim al-Ghaith, said last year that cinema was an evil, though he qualified this 24 hours later to say that cinemas should show good things and not violate teachings of Islam. King Abdullah, a relatively progressive leader whose arrival on the throne in 2005 inspired hopes of reform, removed him from his post in February.

Ben Child
Guardian News