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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Those who Cannes
By Youssef Rakha"Says who?" Youssef Chahine retorts sharply when asked whether Cannes has been biased against Arab cinema. Referring to the Prix du Cinquantième, with which he was honoured for his lifetime's achievement in 1997, the celebrated film-maker declaims: "Last year the whole world could see how highly regarded we are. Who can bat an eyelash in the face of our cinema now? Nobody can say it is nothing. There are problems, drastic problems which we have had to cope with. Production, for one thing, is very bad. People struggle to work in humane circumstances. The number of films being produced has gone down. But artistically speaking, even if you want to give it five out of 10, you couldn't possibly say that the Arab cinema is insignificant. That's just not true..."
His passionately affirmative vision notwithstanding, the fact remains that Chahine's 1997 contribution to the official competition, Al-Masir (Destiny), failed to glean the world's most prestigious film prize, the official competition's coveted Palme d'Or. Despite his sustained presence at the festival (he has participated in the official competition more often than any other Arab film-maker), the Algerian Mohamed Al-Akhdar Hamina remains the only Arab director whose efforts were fully rewarded. His groundbreaking feature, Waqa'i' Sanawat Al-Jamr (Chronicles of the Burning Years), a landmark in the history of world cinema and Algeria's most notable contribution to the film industry, came first in the official competition in 1975.
First at Cannes: Youssef WahbiThis year, Chahine, whose latest feature, Al-Akhar (The Other), tonight opens Cannes's most prestigious fringe event, Un Certain Regard, seems perfectly indifferent: "Who cares about any of this anyway? Palme d'Or this, Palme d'Or that... The only value of a prize is that it is an acknowledgement -- it reassures you that you chose the right career. If I surrounded myself with all the prizes I've got -- and there are at least 150 of them -- my gaze would shift from one to the other and I'd have this dumb self-satisfied grin on my face and lose my head over it. The fact is, I was offered the opportunity to participate in the official competition this year but I chose not to. There are others -- and I say this in all sincerity -- who are dreaming and have the right to see their dreams come true. The point is that Egyptian cinema should be alive and kicking, the rest is just part of the process..."
It is true that Arab cinema in Cannes has often been Egyptian cinema, but the latter was, in turn, inextricably bound with talents from all over the Arab world, particularly the Mashriq. In fact, the history of Egyptian involvement in Cannes goes all the way back to the first round, when actor, director and dramatist Youssef Wahbi, the man who popularised world tragedy on the Egyptian stage in the 1930s and later brought a renewed vitality and humour to the newly emerging silver screen, was a member of the jury in 1946. The official competition programme for the same year also included an Egyptian film, Mohamed Karim's Donia -- facts which, though often overlooked, testify to the significance of Arab participation in the festival since its very inception. Such leading film-makers as Henri Barakat (who participated in 1965), Kamal El-Sheikh (1955, 1964) and Salah Abu Seif (1949, 1954), not to mention Chahine himself, have continually kept up the tradition.
That there are no Arab films in the official competition this year therefore implies a worrying decline in Arab participation, and a case could be made that the festival administration is prejudiced against the Arab world. "This year, the Arabs, as always, will be present," writes Palestinian film critic Ibrahim Al-Aris, "even if they feel a little injustice, which nothing ameliorates but the choice of Chahine's new film as the overture to Un Certain Regard... Unlike the case in previous years, Arab participation will not go beyond Chahine's film, and half a dozen less important features showing in various fringe events... "
Chahine himself, however, is unperturbed: "If other Arab countries can do better, then by all means let them. It is only a friendly competition, since we are brothers... Personally, I am interested in Egyptian cinema, and I don't feel that we're doing badly at all."
Nonetheless, the Egyptian Cultural Development Fund, perhaps to help bolster the Arab presence, has duly embarked on a whole programme of activities in France, offering the festival's audience a CD-ROM with comprehensive information about Egyptian film-making, including video clips, as well as various publications, feature and documentary screenings and commemorative posters and postcards.
All things considered, at any rate, it is the international response to Al-Akhar, rather than any honours or rewards, that will serve as the ultimate criterion.
