Funny business
Rania Khallaf explores the adult dilemmas of making animated films for children
Stills from Maheeb's cartoon films
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Article 17 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child encourages the mass media to disseminate information and material that has social and cultural merit for children. However, as prominent writer of children's books Abdel-Tawab Youssef points out, Egypt has a long way to go towards realising this aim. "Only Walt Disney's animated cartoons (see box) like A Bug's Life and The Prince of Egypt, or movies like Harry Potter are screened occasionally for urban children of the elite," laments Youssef who points out that while even a limited reach of such material is to be welcomed, it falls far short of what the 1996 UN Declaration on Child Rights and Media recommended that children should be enabled to learn, see and express themselves -- their culture, languages and life experiences -- through media, while promoting an awareness and appreciation of other cultures.
And while the cinema industry in Egypt has deep roots, children's cinema is a new phenomenon. "The realisation that children need to see movies that heighten their curiosity regarding the mysteries of the world while helping them to unravel and understand them, has been slow in the making," said animator Laila El-Wakeel.
Ali Maheeb, a pioneer animator who began producing cartoon films for Egyptian television with his brother Hossam in the 1960s recounts the history of the cartoon industry in Egypt. "The first animators in Egypt were the Frankels, who appeared on the scene in the early 1930s; they were young Russian Jews who settled in Egypt, and also worked in the furniture trade. But this group of early animators completely disappeared in the 1950s." Before that, though, Maheeb notes, in the 1930s Anton Selim started producing cartoon films with very modest tools, although his works of note were made in the 1950s. "One of his most famous films is entitled Essam Wa Aziza dated 1958. Selim's work could not compete with that of Disney which was screened at Egyptian cinemas before feature films during the 1940s and 1950s. Selim continued to make films until 1962, when he announced his bankruptcy," Maheeb recounted.
Maheeb produced his first film in 1961. Entitled Upstairs Downstairs, it explores the nature of the conflict between aristocrats and the working class. And while Maheeb supervised the production of dozens of animated films in the 1960s, none of them was directed at children. "Because we were working for television, we were required to produce cartoons for either advertisements or introductions to sitcoms. Besides, the equipment available to us was very modest," Maheeb said.
In fact, a recurrent reason given for the poverty of Egyptian children's cinema is the inability of producers and directors to keep up with the technological advances the field has seen in the West.
Ne'am El-Baz, a prominent author of children's books, noted that the Academy of Arts in Egypt lacks the latest graphics technology which could be used to make high quality films. "There is still a huge gap between us and Europe. And yet we have good animators, with good ideas," she said.
It is noteworthy that a generation of children's animators did develop in the 1980s, including among its ranks Mona Abul-Nasr, Zeinab Zamzam and Faiza Hussein.
Ahmed Abul-Oyoun, instructor at the Higher Institute of Cinema and an expert of 3-D animation techniques, says, "Over the past 10 years, animators in Egypt have not kept up with new techniques such as 3-D. Such technological innovations have been relegated to the sphere of software engineers. We have started to make progress, although we are far from having acquired all the skills needed."
Mukhtar Younis, a professor of graphics at the Higher Institute of Cinema, admits that the institute is in part responsible for the dearth of cartoon films for children because it does not offer courses on children's cinema. Cost, too, is a factor in the institute's practice of focussing on films for adults. "To produce a cartoon film, a group of students would have to pay approximately LE22,000, which is half the cost of the production and the academy pays the other half. This is, of course, a huge sum for everyone."
Attempts are being made to alleviate this constraint, Younis said. "This year we asked the Higher Council for Motherhood and Childhood to help us support the production of cartoon films for children. The council said it is ready to pay half the costs of a number of cartoon films every year. I expect that students will be encouraged next year to produce more cartoon films for children, as they won't be burdened by the costs of their production."
But even should the technology, training and money be available, Maheeb points out that the younger generation faces other obstacles, among which are the marketing of their product, and the stiff competition from other neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Israel and Syria.
In the face of these challenges animators remain largely individualised. Stalin El-Ramli, professor of animation at the University of Minya, suggested animators should work together to address the challenges they face. "One of our problems as Egyptian animators is that each of us prefers to work alone. And this is a serious problem, for no great production can be produced by one or two animators, but only through teamwork."
These are serious problems. Youssef, also one of the founders of the annual Children's Film Festival organised by the Ministry of Culture, went so far as to boycott the festival three years ago. "It's not logical to hold a festival without producing a single full-length drama for children," he said
But others view the ministry as potentially playing a key role. El-Baz said she hopes that the Ministry of Culture will create a special cartoon film festival for children. "This would increase the production of cartoon films and encourage animators to compete in the field. We are all awaiting the inauguration of the Children's Arts Institute, which is affiliated to the [cinema] institute," added El-Baz.
Towards addressing these issues, the country's first cartoon film society was established in 2000. "The idea is one that had been circulating for around 10 years. But with the advent of the new millennium we feared that we would lose our heritage. We felt the need to preserve our past and to collectively build a prosperous future for our new generation of cartoonists," said Maheeb, director of the Egyptian Animation Society (EAS).
Animators hope the EAS will facilitate Egypt's participation in international cartoon film festivals and develop the standard of local production. "The society will provide training courses for beginners, and we are in the process of establishing the first cartoon film archive to house all animated films produced in Egypt. An information bank on the art will also be established," Maheeb said.
Mickey Mouse speaks Arabic
DISNEY has long retained the monopoly on children's animated movies. Today, however, the international market demands films in languages other than English, and to cater for this market Disney has started dubbing its films.
The Arabic voice-overs are done here in Cairo. Aicha Selim, creative manager of Disney Character Voices International in Cairo (DCVI) supervises the voice-over production for Egypt and Lebanon. Every year her office dubs eight feature-length films and around 200 animated episodes. "We work with Disney Character Voices International, Inc which is affiliated with the Disney Corporation. The DCVI provides high quality voice casting, character recordings and also has idiomatic foreign language divisions, which help maintain the quality, consistency and integrity of Disney characters and products around the world," she said. In order to maintain overall character consistency, DCVI was established in the US as a corporate entity in 1988. "We assign the voice-over project to a production house in Egypt and then supervise the process," she continued.
Their latest production Jungle Book 2, has lately been screened in cinemas in Egypt.
But the benefits of this activity for the Egyptian animation industry are debatable. "The only way our production can benefit the Egyptian cartoon industry is by providing strong competition. Because our dubbing standards are high, local producers will have to raise their own standards," Selim explained.
According to animator Mahmoud Attiya, who worked on the popular locally produced Bakar series, "The production of dubbed films is very important for professional directors in Egypt. They provide us with incomparable technical experience."
At a recent viewing of the Jungle Book 2 the cinema erupted into peals of laughter. "We don't just make literal translations of the original text; often we add a taste of our own humour so that it's more interesting for children," commented Selim.
