29 March - 4 April 2001
Issue No.527
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527 |
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Alternative dreams
Khairiya El-Bishlawi recaps the last round of the Cairo International Festival for Children's Cinema
The 11th round of the Cairo International Festival for Children's Cinema (13-20 March) passed almost unnoticed. In 11 years, evidently, the festival has had no tangible effect on the local industry: children's cinema, that most intriguing of genres, has yet to claim territory in Egypt and the Arab World. And while Iran witnesses an astounding renaissance in children's film, the Arabs are paying no attention to the output of their cinematically fortunate neighbour. Arab children, far from enjoying their own home-grown features or those of Iran, continue to rely on Hollywood: they are still more familiar with Disney and Dreamworks etc. than anything else.
The Enchanted Pearl, an Indian contribution. 125 films from 33 countries reflected as many approaches to the psyche of future generations
Ironically, though, it is Iran that gleans the most important awards at the end of each round -- a curious vindication, considering the scepticism of commercial producers and the reluctance of official bodies regarding the potential for making children's films in this part of the world. Iranian fare was particularly outstanding this year: Shangool and Mangool -- this round's premiere animation feature, produced by the Iranian Institute of Intellectual Development and Young People -- tells a warmly humane story, making very intelligent use of various Iranian carpet-weaving traditions. The action is gripping, but what the film impresses on the mind is a sense of serenity. Also produced by the institute, Priss Shahenda's Third -- the winner of the Cairo Golden Prize for television programme films -- utilises excellent amateur acting to express delightful moral values. It was in acknowledgement of Iran's outstanding contributions that the director of the institute was invited to the Cairo festival this year.
Other countries made notable contributions, too. Canadian film-maker Alexander Petrov's The Old Man and the Sea , based on Ernest Hemingway's famous text, is a masterpiece of animation that won the second animation prize. Dutch film-maker Michael Dudock's The Father and the Daughter came next, while Belgian film-maker Jean-Luc Gossens's comedy, No Stress -- about fathers and children feeling stressed out on the first day of the academic year -- won the Cairo Silver Prize. An Indonisian film, Tinkling Glass, won the Cairo Bronze Prize. Winners included several long narrative films intended for children: The Canary-Yellow Bicycle (Greece), Star Sisters (Sweden) and Le chateau de singes (France). A Finnish film, The Berry Tree, won the premier prize for short narrative film.
Egypt, which has yet to produce a single feature of this ilk, received the special jury award -- an annual token gesture of good will on the part of the jury -- nothing more. This year's winner, Emad Attia's computer animated Wuz-wuz and Bot-bot, offers little to speak of. Of Egypt's 14 features (all of which were animated), only four were deemed good enough for the official competition. And the Ministry of Culture withheld two of its awards for Egyptian cinema -- an indication that no other films were deemed worthy of awards. Stop-motion director Zeinab Zamzam, whose annual award is due simply to the fact that she alone employs this medium, this year her Open Your Eyes received the ministry's financial award (LE12,000), while Mohamed Shahm's The Last View came next (LE8,000). Of the Arab contributions, the Egyptian director Beshir El-Dik's The Legend (a Saudi production comprising the script-writer/director's first attempt at children's cinema) won third place.
Sadly, in the festival's 11th year, Egyptian and Arab presence remains disappointingly limited. The participation of children in the jury and in the administration of the festival, the workshops and screenings organised especially for children with disabilities, the loud festivities that beset the Opera House for the duration of the festival: none of these facts could encourage the responsible parties to expand the scope of children's cinema on the local scene.
As a week-long event, nonetheless, the festival proved absorbing and diverse. 125 films from 33 countries employing a variety of media and techniques reflected as many approaches to the psyche of future generations in various parts of the world. Seminars provided for discussions of a variety of issues relating to children's cinema. The role of children's cinema in development, for example, was the subject of a number of debates. But perhaps it was the transformation of classic works into children's films -- many of these had already been made into narrative films for grown-ups -- that raised the most exciting questions. In fact the festival's opening film, Marco Polo, a Chinese production, is one example of this. It is fantasy and nature that continue to inspire most children's films.
Another topic that took up much discussion was the notion of child rights, a subject which many participants tackled this year. The task of communicating such a complex political notion within the framework of a film directed at children might seem well nigh impossible. Yet the film-makers in question made a competent job of it. More importantly, they suggested that attention to children and children's entertainment comprises a part of any country's respect for these rights. Films and seminars notwithstanding, the force of the festival will not be evident until child rights are respected in this sense. Yet it is unlikely that the production of children's cinema in Egypt will receive more attention than it has for the last decade.
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