{"id":18302,"date":"2024-11-18T15:34:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T13:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=18302"},"modified":"2026-10-09T04:24:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T02:24:56","slug":"cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Corruption, Monopoly and Marginalisation of the Poor: How Is Egypt Redefining Its Cinematic Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over decades of intellectual, cultural and social transformations in Egypt, the film industry in the most productive and prominent country in its Arab and African surroundings has been afflicted by many ills that have directly affected the quality of film production and Egypt’s leading role in the film industry regionally and internationally, perhaps most notably corruption and monopoly, and the imposition of governmental and social censorship on art, in addition to other factors that have led to the decline of Egyptian art in general and cinema in particular. This portends a major deterioration and decline of the industry in the future if radical solutions are not found, especially as many countries in the region have recognised the importance of art and are constantly trying to play roles amid a historic race over “the art industry”.<\/p>\n

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Amid a heated debate about the crises of the film industry in Egypt and its considerable decline, the selection<\/a> of the film “Flight 404” last September to represent Egypt at the next edition of the Oscars as best foreign film, as announced by the Cinema Professions Syndicate, which supervises the work of the selection committee made up of independent filmmakers and critics, sparked a wider debate about the reasons for Egyptian cinema’s failure to win international awards, especially the Oscars, at which Egypt<\/a> has not won any awards despite intensive participation and nominations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Recommended reading:<\/strong> Saudi Entertainment Authority Projects: Will They Revive Egyptian Cinema or Drown It?<\/a><\/p>\n

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The International Awards Complex<\/h3>\n

Despite the abundance of film production in Egypt historically, compared with Arab and African countries, its presence when it comes to international awards is faint and perhaps very rare. Writer and art critic Mohamed Samih<\/strong> attributes this to several reasons, foremost among them bureaucracy and laws restricting creative freedom, in addition to corruption. He tells Zawia3: “Although bureaucracy and the arsenal of ‘restrictive’ laws have played an important role in the decline of the industry in Egypt, there are factors with a greater impact in this regard. Yemeni films, for example, despite their recent history and production difficulties that cannot be compared with production difficulties in Egypt, are more present in competitions. So I think filmmakers in Egypt seek the propaganda of being present at festivals, and do not work enough to promote their films among international critics, whether those voting directly on awards or influential opinion-makers.”<\/p>\n

Art critic Ramy Metwally<\/strong> agrees with him, stressing in an interview with Zawia3 that the absence of sufficient effort in the external promotion of Egyptian films greatly affects their absence from international awards. He explained that the film industry, like any product, needs marketing and introductory campaigns with the bodies and countries running international festivals, and this effort seems absent or disorganised when it comes to Egypt. He noted that the committee evaluating films sometimes does not understand the idea on which the work is based because of the great cultural differences between East and West, “and this requires major efforts to introduce the works and the extent to which they are influenced by Egyptian reality, especially if the ideas they discuss are fundamentally different between East and West, such as issues of honour or honour killings and other social patterns.”<\/p>\n

Metwally adds, speaking to us: “We can take an example from other Arab countries such as Tunisia, which in recent years has managed to achieve successes on the global stage thanks to its focus on issues that touch international reality and attract the attention of Western audiences. As for Egyptian films, they often discuss local issues that do not find sufficient resonance with global audiences, such as issues of honour or relationship problems in Egyptian society, topics that may not be understood or as impactful globally.”<\/p>\n

He continues: “If we look at Palestinian or Lebanese films, we find that their success came as a result of close cooperation with international art agencies that work to promote them effectively. These agencies provide channels of communication with Academy members and other influencers on the global art scene. The matter here requires specialised Egyptian bodies, such as an authority working to represent Egyptian cinema at international festivals, similar to the Tourism Promotion Authority.”<\/p>\n

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Metwally stresses that the solution lies in establishing a body capable of reaching the global film market and providing support for Egyptian films to be screened and financed internationally. He concludes: “We must set an integrated plan to improve Egyptian films’ access to global audiences, because this will positively affect the film industry in Egypt, support the economy and enhance Egypt’s image internationally, not only in terms of awards but also in terms of cultural influence.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For her part, art critic and novelist Rania Kamal<\/strong> believes that “Egyptian art is restricted by censorship that prevents the artist or actor from presenting many roles and stories rejected by Egyptian society or the censors”. She tells Zawia3: “In many other countries the door of art is open to creativity, innovation, renewal and excellence without restrictions, unlike the situation in Egypt”, pointing to a lack of professionalism in managing the execution and presentation of the work. Rania says that the absence of planning or plans to select and present strong works that have a positive impact and attract most countries of the world is among the most prominent reasons for Egyptian cinema’s distance from global competition, “especially as most works are limited to attracting Egyptian or Arab society only.”<\/p>\n

Egyptian writer and film critic Khaled Mahmoud<\/strong> believes that the decline in winning international awards, especially the Oscars, comes “as a natural reflection of the frightening decline in production rates, and consequently the feebleness of ideas and styles, and Egyptian filmmakers’ lack of interest in following the output of different film schools around the world and knowing what we have reached and where we stand compared with them”. He explains in an article<\/a> that “for many years Egypt has been keen to nominate a film to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars, but we need a necessary step to correct the course of Egyptian cinema instead of the frightening decline compared with the huge leaps achieved by the cinemas of other countries.”<\/p>\n

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Since the creation of the Academy Awards, Egypt has participated<\/a> in the non-English-language foreign film category more than 39 times, but it has failed<\/a> to win awards or even reach the shortlists. Multiple Egyptian films have been submitted for the award without winning it, including “Cairo Station” by director Youssef Chahine (1958). “The Mummy” (1969) by director Shadi Abdel Salam is one of the most prominent films Egypt has submitted for the world’s most prominent international film award, followed by other brilliant films such as “Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story” (2009) and “Clash” (2016), directed by Mohamed Diab, which dealt with the political turmoil after the 25 January Revolution. The film “Yomeddine” (2018) by Abu Bakr Shawky, which drew attention at the Cannes Film Festival before being submitted for the Oscars, also took part.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As for other international awards, a number of Egyptian films have historically achieved rare and scattered awards. Among the most prominent of these films are “The Mummy” (1969), which won the “Sadoul” Prize<\/a> in 1970; Yousry Nasrallah’s “Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story” (2009), whose lead actress Mona Zaki won the Best Actress award<\/a> at the Dubai International Film Festival; and “678” (2010) by director Mohamed Diab, which won<\/a> the Best Director award at the Chicago International Film Festival, while the film<\/a> “Yomeddine” (2018) by director Abu Bakr Shawky won the “Fran\u00e7ois Chalais” Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was put forward for the Oscars as best foreign film. In 2021, Omar El Zohairy’s film “Feathers” won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Critics’ Week.<\/p>\n

Recommended reading:<\/strong> How Are Financial Crises and the Gaza War Reshaping Egypt’s Entertainment Scene?<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Crises of the Egyptian Film Industry<\/h3>\n

Egyptian Minister of Culture Ahmed Hano acknowledged the decline of the Egyptian film industry in recent years, saying last September that “the Egyptian film industry is not at its best, especially in terms of writing, which in some years made it difficult to find a single film to nominate to compete for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film”. He added in press statements<\/a>: “Egyptian films of the fifties and sixties were written by literary and intellectual giants such as Abdel Rahman El-Sharkawy, Youssef El-Sebai and Naguib Mahfouz, but now we have a big crisis in the scripts,” continuing: “I am a good film viewer and a good reader of film criticism, but recently produced films are no good… sometimes I turn on the TV and see films that have no plot at all.”<\/p>\n

Observers see the minister’s statements as the first official response to a long history of appeals and demands to reform the flabby system in Egypt, but the statements were limited to criticism without presenting a clear plan to save the film industry. Writer and art critic Fayza Hendawy says in a comment<\/a> on the Minister of Culture’s remarks that he “spoke boldly about the problems of the film industry, which is very good, but he needs to move from statements to implementation by enlisting figures familiar with the problems of cinema who have solutions they presented before that were not adopted.”<\/p>\n

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In 2016, Egypt established the Holding Company<\/a> for Investment in Cultural and Cinematic Fields, with the aim of managing and investing state-owned cinema assets. However, Minister of Culture Ahmed Hano indicated that the company had not achieved the required results over the past years, as debts accumulated and it was in urgent need of restructuring.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to statistics from the Egyptian Chamber of Film Industry, the number of feature films produced in 2023 reached about 67, compared with 51 the previous year. However, critics believe that most of these productions fall into the category of “commercial films” that focus on achieving high box-office revenues, while few of them took part in prestigious international festivals.<\/p>\n

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