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Cinematic
Armament Is the Arabs’ Last Chance
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By
Maged Hebtah
Translated by Abdelazim R. Abdelazim
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09/08/2004
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Mustapha
Al-Akkad has many important projects lined up for the future but faces lack of
finances. According to him the modern Arab world is in great need of the seventh
art.
Most
importantly, such movies would correct the twisted image of the Arab Muslim held
in the Western world. These projects are ready for production, but financers are
not in the same state of readiness. Mustapha Al-Akkad simply waits for funding
to be more forthcoming while continuing to produce his suspense and horror
movies. I ask him why he chooses to take this passive stance.
He
falls gloomily silent for a bit before replying with his usual calmness:
“I’m but a single individual and the filmmaking industry involves giant
foundations. I’m not passive as you might say because I still persist in
trying to find the financer. If I fail, I shouldn’t be the first one to be
blamed because it is primarily the failure of the Arab officials to see the
importance of carrying out these projects and their making promises they don’t
keep.”
Media
War
“We
spend billions on buying tanks and jet fighters but never see a single bullet
fired against our enemies. Only 10 percent of our armament budget would be
sufficient to create miracles. War now is but a media war. Unfortunately, we
seek solace in talking among ourselves but never try to convey our ideas and
true image to the world. We are not in need of military weaponry to change the
horrible image that Muslims are stuck with. It is more important to know how to
use the most effective weapon in the modern world, the media.
“This
is his message in a time when the Zionist media has succeeded in pitting
Christianity and Judaism against Islam. The Arabs, therefore, have to prepare an
informative, targeted message, especially keeping in mind that American society
does not necessarily take sides with any particular nationality but receives
information from the media and responds to it.”
Yousef
Shahin[1] and The Destiny
According
to Al-Akkad, Muslims do not do what is required of them. He puts it in plain
language: “We need to convince the world that we are not terrorists as the
Zionist media depict us.” He pinpoints the fact that there are many Arab
intellectuals who do themselves and the Arabs wrong, sometimes accidentally and
many a time deliberately. He mentions as an example the Egyptian director Yousef
Shahin who, Al-Akkad believes, offended the Arab people in his movie The
Destiny.
I
ask him to elucidate this example further. He continues that he saw Yousef
Shahin receiving his prize in
Cannes and how the French audience applauded for him for five minutes; such an
incident has never happened before in the history of
Cannes. Al-Akkad thereupon decided to see the movie which, he expected, would be an
artistic chef d’oeuvre. However, after seeing it he realized that the
long applause had not been for the film’s artistic qualities but for a scene
in the film in which Ibn Rushd’s[2] books are set on fire.
“Shahin
wanted to teach the inflexible Muslim scholars a lesson for their success in
imposing a ban on his movie The Immigrant, so he deliberately gave special
prominence to the scene. Why did he choose to magnify this particular scene?
Weren’t there already enough works distorting the Arab/Muslim image? In this
way we encourage others to continue to present such a twisted image of us.”
Calls
for Annual Islamic Blockbuster
Thus,
the core of the issue is our marred image in the eyes of the world. I ask
Al-Akkad how we should go about correcting this image. In response he expounds,
“We can surely afford to establish international high-quality cinematic
production centers. In very plain language, I declare that Muslims will achieve
nothing with their arsenals, ammunition, condemnations, or denunciations. There
is no solution but the media, only the media.”
Al-Akkad
affirms that the large media channels in the
United States
are but stock companies, like CNN, Fox, and CBS, and that it is essential to
think seriously of how we could penetrate such companies. “The Arab problem
with the other is nothing but a problem of information.”
In
the Interview: Read Also
Maged Hebtah is a journalist based in Cairo, Egypt
1-
Yousef Shahin (b. 1926) is an internationally famous Egyptian film director.
In 1997 he won the Cannes Palme d’Or for his 33rd film, The Destiny, in
which he frontally attacks Islamic fundamentalists through the story of the
great 12th century Andalusian scholar Ibn Rushd.
2-
Ibn Rushd, or Avarroes, (1126 – 1198) is a major figure in the history of
Islamic scholarship. He was an Andalusian judge, philosopher, theologian,
physician, and scientist. Among his greatest achievements were his
commentaries on Aristotle’s Metaphysic, through which the West became
re-acquainted with the ancients, and his defense of the classical Islamic
philosophers in his Tahafus at-Tahafus.
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