First Saudi film banned in Saudi Arabia! - No wonder Islam is so confused
(and other things too)!!!
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http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=16039
2006-03-21
Saudi Arabia's first film blazes taboo-breaking trail
'Keif al-Hal' is comedy-drama which embodies tension between moderates and
religious extremists.
By Sam Dagher - DUBAI
A trailblazing Saudi film featuring the country's first silver screen
actress will be shown this summer everywhere in the Middle East - except the
ultra-conservative kingdom where cinemas are banned.
"Keif al-Hal" (How Are You?) is the first produced by Saudi-owned Arab
entertainment company Rotana owned by reform-minded Saudi billionaire Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal.
The movie is a comedy-drama which its makers say embodies the tension
between moderates and religious extremists and the struggle, especially
among the young, to embrace globalisation while retaining cherished Islamic
values.
Given the absence of a Saudi movie industry, the film was shot in
neighbouring Dubai - a booming and relatively tolerant Gulf city state. It
was directed by a Palestinian-Canadian and its script written by a Lebanese
national and an Egyptian.
On a recent sunny afternoon in Dubai, the film's Saudi associate producer
Haifa al-Mansur, 30, sat in an outdoor cafe wearing a purple shirt and jeans
with her hair exposed flanked by two Saudi men, an actor and a budding movie
critic.
They would have been arrested or worse, if they were back home, where Saudi
women must be covered in black from head-to-toe and where the strict
segregation of the sexes permeates every aspect of daily life.
Keeping these strict social norms in mind, the producers had to tread a very
fine line in making the film and deciding what to show on the screen.
"We were very careful not to show anything offensive to Saudi society to the
point we were watching the eyes of the actresses to decide if that is an
appropriate look," said Ayman Halawani, head of production at Rotana's film
division who conceived the film's idea.
"Keif al-Hal" tells the story of Sultan, played by Saudi heartthrob Hisham
Abdulrahman who was the 2005 winner of the pan-Arab version of the Star
Academy talent contest.
Sultan, who lives at his uncle's home after the death of his parents, is
constantly clashing with his pious and ultra-conservative cousin Khaled
because of his hip attitude and Western style.
Enter Khaled's pretty sister Sahar, played by a Jordanian actress.
Saudi actor Meshaal al-Mutairi, who has experience in theatre and television
drama, plays an opportunistic character who becomes closer to Khaled and his
family by growing a long beard in the style of Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden and pretending to be religious while vying for Sahar's
attention.
Sahar escapes the tensions at home by going out with her best friend Dunya
played by first-time Saudi actress Hind Mohammed, 25.
Not wanting to give away the plot, Rotana's Halawani declined to say if a
love story binds Sahar and Sultan but said the movie was free of any
romantic dalliances, hand-holding or secret dating.
"The thing that it does not do is say who's right and who's wrong... we want
to leave it up to the viewers," he said.
The movie's lone Saudi actress said she was determined to forge ahead with
her movie career despite the potential backlash she may encounter in a
male-dominated and puritanical society.
"I want to prove that a woman can do something despite the education we
receive that she is weak and dishonourable and must never speak up,"
Mohammed said by telephone from Riyadh.
For the past three years she has been involved in radio and also does the
voices for animated television series.
The highest profile Saudi woman involved in films is the movie's associate
producer Mansur, who made a controversial documentary last year titled Nisaa
bila Dhil (Women Without Shadow).
Her film, in which a reformist cleric declares that it is not mandatory for
women to cover up their faces, caused an uproar among the hardline clerical
elite.
It was shown at 17 film festivals worldwide and has attracted the attention
of Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of King Abdullah who is the world's eighth
richest individual with a fortun estimated at 20 billion dollars (16 billion
euros), according to the latest rankings by Forbes magazine.
Mansur said she was optimistic about her country's prospects in the light of
reforms initiated by King Abduallah and wants to continue making films in
Saudi Arabia.
"I do not want to insult. Although there are many things I dislike, I can
express myself in a way that society will listen and debate," she said.
But actor Mutairi, 28, warned that nothing would change as long as many
voices in Saudi society regard a desire for modernity and self expression
through arts like cinema as an "immoral attachment to Western values."
He was the last to graduate from the theatre school in 2000 at Riyadh's King
Saud University before the department was "temporarily suspended" for no
real reason by a group of hardline professors.
Mutairi said his "creative space" is also limited by government intolerance
to all forms of political expression by young people as it battles suspected
Al-Qaeda militants bent on overthrowing the monarchy.
Saudi television turned down a drama he produced in which a group of
aspiring theatre actors discuss the Middle East conflict with a character
representing 10th century Arab poet al-Mutanabi.
"Saudi society's problem with art in general is that half consider it
against religious values while others think it is shameful."
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