'Censorship, biggest difficulty for filmmakers in Egypt'

A scene from the film “Nawara” which was screened at the opening of the Arab Film Festival in Seoul on May 26. / Courtesy of Arab Film Festival

• Published May 31, 2016 5:17 PM KST
• Updated May 31, 2016 5:17 PM KST

Female Arab filmmaker visits Seoul for film festival

By Yun Suh-young

Censorship in screening certain films has been problematic several times in Korea, but in some countries, filmmakers suffer from pre-production censorship that disallows a film to be made in the first place.

That case holds for many Middle Eastern countries, and Egypt is one of them.

Taghrid Abouelhassan, producer of the film "Nawara" directed by Hala Khalil, said her biggest difficulty as a filmmaker in Egypt was government censorship.

"We have censorship where you have to get scripts permitted by the government before filming," she said during an interview with The Korea Times, upon her visit to Seoul to participate in the Arab Film Festival which runs until today. She was attending the event on behalf of Khalil who was unable to come due to injury. "Nawara" was shown as the opening film at the Arab Film Festival.

"Even after filming, they have to see it again to be permitted just to remove things they don't like. You need to get scripts authorized through censorship and convince few filmmaking companies to produce a film which is not a comedy or action film. We have two kinds of cinema _ the commercial (comedy, action) and independent cinema like Nawara. Not many people would like to do a film like Nawara although it won grants from Abu Dhabi film festival and the Doha Film Institute."

But Egypt is a passionate environment for filmmakers, she said.

"During the Egyptian revolution in 2011, filmmakers had strong existence. They wanted to stick by the people so they didn't leave the scene," she said.

"It's a passionate environment though it's a tough one as well because you have to work for many hours."

There are certain genres of films that are preferred by the government or cinema companies such as comedy and action which is why documentaries or socially critical films face difficulties screening.

"Film companies own the movie theaters so they want to go with what works. They know people have a lot of pain so if they offer something light, it will be a mental escape for the people which will make them come," said Abouelhassan.

"Same with the government. Some films are preferred to be avoided to not steer the public. There might be something they refuse if it deals with topics of religion or circumcision. Sensitive issues are preferred not to be discussed by the government."

After the Arab Spring which began Jan. 25, 2011 and continued for months, people believed their lives would become different when the Mubarak regime fell. Things, however, haven't changed as much as people expected, said Abouelhassan, and many forgot about the poor who struggled on an everyday basis. This triggered director Khalil to shoot “Nawara,” in order to shed light on those still suffering.

"We all participated in the Egyptian revolution. Hala Khalil as well. It was the first time there was communication between everyone in the community. Nothing like that had taken place before. Everyone was thrilled that the president left. People were happy that they'll see no more corruption because the uneven distribution of wealth happened because of the corruption," she said.

"But it turned very political and became a struggle for power. Soon, everyone forgot about the poor people. So Khalil thought of making a trilogy of three films about the Egyptian revolution and the first was Nawara, which told a story of a maid from a poor family who works for the family of a powerful old regime. People like Nawara live in slums and in terrible conditions. Khalil wanted to give a voice for the people who were unheard, although the revolution started for them."

The rest of the trilogy is still to be written, as Khalil is waiting for change in the social and political situation.

"For many people, the revolution continues. The situation is not as liberal as we hoped. There's not much freedom that we hoped to get from the Egyptian revolution," she said.

Khalil and Abouelhassan founded their own production company called Nazrah Film.

"We initially founded the company to make Nawara because we wanted to get filmmakers to work with us and be able to support independent cinema. We wanted to go against the mainstream comedy, action and belly dance films. We wanted to support the independent films struggling against the commercial ones," said Abouelhassan.

The two are some of the few female filmmakers working in the country.

"We have very few female filmmakers. There are only three or four compared to hundreds of male filmmakers in the country. I have worked in this industry for 18 years and in many shooting days, I was the only woman. We would shoot for 20 to 24 hours and I had to act as strong as men, physically," she said.

"The society makes this male bond that you don't have. Then there are stories you want to tell. As a woman, you have a different perspective which is more emotional and sometimes deeper than men. Most men pursue the Hollywood style, with the exception of few."

Even those wanting to make films like “Nawara” face many limitations.

"You have to fight against censorship and you have to convince the film companies that own the theaters because people think success is evaluated by the box office," said Abouelhassan.

"Then there's the audience. If you make a sad movie, people won't see it because they want to forget what happened. They want comedy and laugh. It's considered a mental escape."

Upon her first visit to Korea, Abouelhassan said she was deeply impressed with the country and the level of intelligence in the Korean audience.

"This is my first Asian country to visit and I am so impressed, mostly by the people. You're very kind, smart and intellectual. We don't have such intellectual conversations, except very rarely, in Egypt," she said.

"The Korean audiences were so smart, emotional and perceptive. I spoke to Hala Khalil everyday on the phone and she was so impressed because the reaction and feedback from the Korean audience was way more than she expected. They would understand the subtle symbolisms we put into the film here and there and ask questions about it."