25 - 31 January 2001
Issue No.518
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 25 - 31 January 2001 Issue No.518 |
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Keeping a hand on the reels
A draft law designed to protect the country's cultural heritage will soon be debated in the Shura Council and the People's Assembly. The bill will authorise the Ministry of Culture to acquire duplicates of the negatives of old and new Egyptian films and store them in the archives of the National Cinema Centre. It also seeks to help small film-makers by offering improved facilities.
Mohamed El-Qalyoubi, the Centre's head, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the draft won the cabinet's seal of approval on 8 January. The bill seeks to impose severe penalties, ranging from a hefty fine to imprisonment, on anyone attempting to damage negatives or smuggle them abroad. It will also prohibit monopoly in the industry, El-Qalyoubi said.
The need for a change in the law emerged when a newly-established company attempted to gain control over the cinema industry and other audio-visual sectors. For the past three months, the Arab Holding Company for Art and Publications (AHCAP) has sought to purchase the negatives of 500 old films -- as well as some new ones -- in return for exceptionally large amounts of money. Moreover, the company has bought several cinema theatre chains, such as the Renaissance and Osman groups. It has also aquired Sawt Al-Fann, the recording company which has long produced the songs of the prominent late singers Mohamed Abdel-Wahab and Abdel-Halim Hafez.
AHCAP has also signed contracts with a number of singers, producers and film directors, giving it sole monopoly over their work for an average of five years, and taking possession of films in return for a percentage of the distribution profits. Moreover, the company has signed an agreement with the giant publishing house Dar Al-Shurouq, giving it the right to reproduce its books printed in whatever form.
Lawyer Ziad Bahaeddin, co-manager of AHCAP along with his Algerian partner Mahdi Mazen, said: "We are not only buying the negatives but also the right of use."
Writer Sekina Fouad, deputy head of the Shura Council's Committee for Culture, Information and Tourism, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Committee was discussing the problems facing Egyptian cinema and seeking laws to protect the industry and safeguard the right of Egyptians to their cultural heritage. "We are not against any investment or right of use but to what extent should it be permitted, without selling cinema assets?" she said. "Cinema is a heritage, like monuments, and should be protected from being sold."
El-Qalyoubi, for his part, said that a plan was in motion for renovating the existing archive.
Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif was also quoted as saying last week that the government was planning to establish a computerised cinematic library to store negatives and provide information.
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