Adel Imam's star is falling when he speaks his mind on Gaza

Adel Imam, probably the most popular Arab comic actor, has publicly criticized not only the Hamas party but all the Egyptians who have demonstrated in support to it. In his opinion, Hamas was to be blamed for its senseless provocation of the Israeli forces.

Taking such a stance, at the beginning of the Israeli shelling on Gaza, the actor was adding his voice, well-known to be close to President Mubarak’s family, to that of the “Arabs moderates” who were not so unpleased to see the Israeli army doing the dirty job.

But with more and more bombardments and victims, his declarations have aroused considerable reactions. To the point that the leader of an extremist group based in Algeria and supposed to be closed to Al-Qaida has issued a fatwa saying that the killing of the “traitor” was legitimate.

An opportunity for the actor to correct the awful impression made by his first declarations, and to explain that he always considered Hamas resistance legitimate and that his critics were addressed to the Egyptian Muslim brotherhood (although there are not so many ideological differences between the two political movements).

Once a courageous defender of the Arab feelings, Adel Imam seems to have lost his political beliefs but may be also his popularity. The issue is not only that of a movie star getting older, but that of his whole generation, born in the Nasserite era, raised at Sadate’s time and active during Mubarak’s regime, whose fate seems to be sealed.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Waltz in Gaza

Ari Fomman took best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes Awards on January 11 with Waltz With Bashir, a personal documentary about Sabra and Shatila massacres in 1982. The same day, as Tania Tabar’s article on Menassat reminds us, around 60 Palestinians died under the Israelis bombs in Gaza. And many more during the following days…

Tania Tabar follows mentioning that nearly 90% of the public opinion in Israel supported the war in Gaza (a statistic which does not include the “useless” opinion of the Palestinian citizens). How is this possible regarding the success, even in Israel, of an “antiwar film” like Waltz with Bashir, and compared to the thousands of Israelis who marched in the streets of Tel-Aviv as a reaction to Sabra and Shatila massacres? (Again, the 100 000 Arab Israelis who demonstrated against the war in Gaza in Sakhneen, one of the major Arab towns of Galilee, do not matter very much !)

A first explanation is the fact that Ari Folman’s film places the responsibility of the massacres in 1982 on the Phalangist militia and on Ariel Sharon who gave his green light” for the killing of civilians in the Palestinian camps of Beirut. Thus, the “naive young men (…) were only participating in a massacre because of the time and the place they happened to be” explains Tania Tabar, who also underlines that the “personal” narrative of Waltz with Bashir fails to provide a complete historical background which could explain why and how the Israeli state has been using for such a long time systematic violence against the Palestinian and Lebanese populations.

Waltz with Bashir ends with the animation suddenly shifting to real footage of the massacres which took place in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila in 1982, and with Palestinian ladies yelling and screeming at the camera [and the viewer] : “Where are the Arabs, where are they ?”

Since Waltz with Bashir is not a political movie, but a kind of personal testimony, accordind to Ari Folman's declarations, why did he choose such an ending? asks Tania Tabar.

Indeed, the question needs an answer. As an answer is needed to many others, today, “after” the war in Gaza, as many people ask : where are the Arabs? Where are they?

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French. Illustration : We are all Gaza. Demonstration in Beirut (Al-Akhbar)

Ban on movies (almost) lift in Saudia

Is the KAS (Kingdom of Arabie Saudia) ready to go for movies? Since a few months, at least last march, the answer seems to be yes. Before long, the local movie fans will not be obliged to travel a thousand miles away to satisfy their passion as cinemas could open in their country. (Or let’s say reopen, as the ban on the movies has been established “only” in the 1970s.)

Some days ago, "Menahi", a Saudi comedy, was distributed in two cinemas in Jeddah and Taef (not far from Mekkah). Al-Hayat, one of the leading Arab newspapers, found the information important enough to publish it - on the web edition – on the first page. Nothing to be surprised in fact, as the movie has been produced by Rotana, the leading producer/distributor of Arabic music and film in the world, owned by prince Waleed ben Talal, also owner of Al-Hayat (among many other things, for sure !)

A success for the Saudi liberals who did not celebrate too ostensibly their victory. On the contrary they insist in saying that “It was a great experience and hopefully the next films we make will just get better," to quote Al-Maliki the most popular Saudi actor.

Even if the screenings have stopped in Taef a few days later, after violent critics from various well-known religious clerics, for many people in the country this is be just the beginning of more to come.

As usual, here is the link to the more developed post in French.

Taxis in Egypt and in Palestine

Are the old Cairene taxis due to disappear? According to the new regulation, cars over 20 years will not be used for taxi cabs anymore and new authorisations will not be delivered to cars over ten years. Before long, the eternal Nasr 1300 should not be seen in Cairo streets.

In Khaled Al Khamissi’s view, the author of the unexpected best-seller Taxi, it would also be the end for the typical “osta”, the classical local taxi driver. Around 100.000 copies of his little book, largely written in colloquial Egyptian arabic (and translated into English, Italian and very soon French), have been sold, probably as much as there are taxicabs in the streets of the capital of Egypt! An indication, according to the writer, of the new cultural climate made possible by the absolute failure of the actual regime.

Less famous abroad than film directors like Michel Khleifi (Wedding in Galilee, 1987) and Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention, 2002), Rashid Mashharawi (رشيد المشهراوي), born in Gaza in 1962, has just finished Laila's Birthday, the story of a juge obliged to work as a cab driver but still fighting in order to enforce the law on his fellow citizens in a country tore to pieces by the Israeli occupation.

Mohammed Bakri, probably the more praised Palestinian actor, plays the main character who compels his clients to fasten their seatbelt in a taxi with a sticker on the windshield which says: Forbidden to people bearing arms!

Things are changing, and artworks are not anymore the narrow-minded expression of an ideology. For those two Arab writer and film maker, the taxi is thus a way to stay in line with a definition of art which commands the artist to be a careful commentator of the social reality, but paying attention not to the great historical narratives but to the many little stories of everyday life.

Here is Laila's Birthday trailer and as usual, the link to the more developed post in French.

Palestinian Hip-Hoppers: Jackie Salloum’s "Slingshot Hip Hop"

Rap music in Palestine began as an “Israeli phenomenon”, with young Jewish and Arab rebels coming from the poor industrial suburbs of Israel sharing the same rage against their living conditions.

A short-lived artistic coexistence as the Palestinian hip-hoppers went their own way with the Second Intifada (2000) and the adoption a more nationalist political discourse by artists like Dam, while Israeli rappers like Subliminal became more and more extremist.

Today, rap music has been adopted by the young Palestinians as a way to express their (political) identity and musicians perform regularly in Israel, as well as in the so-called “Autonomous Territories” or in the Palestinian camps of the surrounding Arab states.

Thus, after Ramallah and Jenine in June, Jackie Salloum was in the Palestinian camps of Lebanon in August to show her first “real” movie, Slingshot Hip Hop. Listening to the soundtrack was a real shock for the young Palestinian raised in Lebanon: certainly not because of the music but because they were amazed to discover that Arabic and Hebrew could be used by “Israeli Palestinian” rappers.

As they explained in an interview given some time ago to the Moroccan weekly Telquel, the three members of Dam are eager to be heard, especially by an Israeli society upset by their national claims.

Under Slingshot Hip-Hop trailer...



... a link to the more elaborated post in French and to Jackie Salloum's website where two shorter moovies could be seen: a must !

Pepsi vs Coca : the mother of all Arab stars

Boycotted until the beginning of the 90’, Coca is still running behind Pepsi in the Middle East with only 35% of the market shares. Although the area is priceless for soft drink producers, with a terrific demography of (presumably) non-alcoholic young drinkers, Pepsi should keep leading the run.

A few days ago, Pepsi launched its last advertising campaign for the area. Sea of stars (بحر النجوم), the first promotional full-length arab movie, has been released, simultaneously in many arab countries. Not a great event on the artistic side, the movie could be nonetheless a hit thanks to the participation of five famous stars of Arab pop music.

At a time US policy in the area does not use anymore the expression anymore but, instead, new concepts like “the Muslim world” (what could it be !!!) or “the New Middle East’, it is interesting to note that Pepsi advertising campaign focuses on something called the “Arab world”.

Otherwise, what could be the explanation of a such a casting gathering, around the leading sexy Lebanese trio (Haifa Wehbe, Carole Samaha and Wael Kfoury), an “oriental” singer (Ruwaida Al Mahrooqi) and another one (Ahmed El Cherif) from Maghreb (meaning "Occident" in arabic) ?

A remark which leads to another reading of the movie pitch : indeed, the forgotten island which needs a new impulse for its future, it is, of course, the Arab world. United, this world will be able to face up to its destiny. Of course under Pepsi umbrella!

The more elaborated post in French following that link and the moovie trailer

Egyptian movies: Hassan & Morcos, without Cohen

“Leader” (zaïm, his nickname) of the Egyptian (and the Arabian) stage for more than three decades, why should Adel Imam care to pledge allegiance to his national authorities? The fact is that the young actor who claimed formerly to be an “artist for the people” is now firmly committing himself for Jamal, putative heir of his father Hosni Mubarak (see previous post).

Hassan & Morcos is already one of last summer blockbusters in Egypt. Co-starring Adel Imam and Omar Sharif, it is the story of two men, a Copt and a Muslim, who have to change their identity in order to get away from religious fanatics. The Coptic thinker (Omar Sharif) pretends to be an imam and the Muslim guy (Adel Imam), a Christian priest.

The comedy, in the usual Adel Imam style, is obviously aiming at delivering a political message, that of the national unity jeopardized by religious extremism, from all sides.

The movie is successful and the public seems to approve the political lesson given by the two Egyptian main stars. Nonetheless, voices have raised, especially on the net, calling to a boycott of the “Christian(ised) Adel Imam”.

Today, movies play a major role in shaping the “national collective memory”. Thus it is striking to notice that Hassan & Morcos refers to a well-known movie from the 50’ called Hassan, Morcos & Cohen.

As in Fatma, Marika and Rachel, another movie of that time, the plot gathers a “trio” of Egyptian main confessions : the Muslim one, the Christian and the Jewish.

Sixty years after the birth of the Israeli state, Cohen has disappeared from the screen. And in the “New Middle East”, calls to National unity seem to be necessary in order to keep Morcos and Hassan side to side…

The more elaborated post in French following that link and the moovie trailer

Crossing the borders : movies and music from Palestine

The Salt of this Land, a Palestinian movie, will be presented at the International film festival in Cannes (France). The film is about Emad, a young Palestian who tries desesparately to live in homeland, and Soraya, a third generation emigrant to the states travelling to her parents’ country looking for her roots.

A story which has something to do with the film maker’s one, Annemarie Jacir (آن ماري جاسر), born in Nazareth, raised in Saudi Arabia then in the USA. Since a few years, she lives now in the Occupied Territories or, better, she used to live as the Israeli authorites did not allow her to come back to her home in Ramallah, in spite of her American passport (something which helps usually).

Thus, the movie was finished not in Palestine but in… Marseille (south of France). Anyhow, Annemarie Jacir remains happy with that: with her movie, she will be able to express her ideas about the most sensitive issue, that of the right for the Palestinians to return to their homeland.


Rim Banna’s story, a singer from Nazareth, is about the same issue: how a Palestinian (artist) could make his/her voice heard across borders?

Since her beginning in the mid 80’s, Rim Banna has become a leading figure of the new Arab song which mixes traditional pieces with modern music and rythms. But, having an Israeli passport, she has more opportunities to meet her audience in the western countries than in the Arab ones.

For instance, she was invited some months ago to give a show in Damascus but she never got her visa to leave. Thus she decided to have a “virtual show” with her fans listening to her in an Internet coffee shop in Damascus, something she did also with for the Jordan, Lebanaese and Gazawis audiences.

To be fair, the Israelis authorities are not the only ones which make her travels to Arab countries almost impossible. Even if there are agreements between Israel and some Arab governments, the boycott issue, a difficult and painful one LINK, adds to the difficulties.

Nonetheless, Rim Banna was happy enough to meet some days ago her Arab audience, for the very first time, in Abu Dhabi. She had brought with her a little stone, taken from the ruins of a church in Saffuriyyeh, a little village close to Nazareth where it is said that Jesus’s mother was born.

It remains almost nothing of that village whose inhabitants live now in Nazareth or even in the Palestinian camp of Ain Heloue (Lebanon).

Is has been destroyed by the Israeli forces during the war.

Just 60 years ago.

Links to some videos and articles with the original post, in French.

Good and Bad: Two Faces of the Arab Modernity

Dancing with the Saudi flag, on which coranic verses are written, is not something to be done, especially when you have already been seen drunken on a stage in Dubai. All the worst if you have been the partner of the outrageous Dina whose belly dance was close to set fire to the Cairene street in October 2006 when an hysterical crowd of young men started to harass every passing-by woman. (An information which was mainly reported by the local bloggers whose importance began to be clear with that event.)

Thus, Saad al-Saghir (سعد الصغير) had many reasons to “repent” as many others did before him recording religious songs (see previous post). A contribution which raises some interrogations among the lovers of the high tradition of nasheed.

Nonetheless, others see nothing problematic with that modernization of the nasheed which can be heard on Arab TV’s among other (non religious) musicals songs.

With the success of Sami Yusuf’s songs, the modern nasheed has given up the old fashion style. Thanks to digitalization, the ban of musical instruments is no more a problem. Singers like Kuwaiti Alafassy make clear that today religious songs may deal with new issues like ecology. Even relations between men and women may be tackled in a musical genre strictly restricted before to divine love.

One could suspect, or even make fun of such a quick shift from shameless behaviour to a so pious one. But the coming back to virtuous behaviours is a complex phenomenon. For some singers, TV and movie stars probably, but certainly for most of the Arab youth who admire them and watch them, the “bad” cheeky fruit seller dancing in an outrageous way and the “good” devout young muslim singing his love to God are in fact two inseparable sides of the Arab modernity.

Follow that link to read the original and more detailed post in French.

And to whach an almost "satanic" dance by Saad al-Saghir follow this link and then shift to the pious singer with that video of Ahmidu rabba-na

My life, Arab Movie : Boycott and Normalization

Since the Camp David Agreements in 1978, “normalization” means in Arabic the refusal by most of Arab artists and intellectuals of any activity in connection with Israelis.

“Normalization” may be enforced by law according to the regulations of professional associations as in Egypt where the Artists syndicate has recently decided to clear actor ‘Amr Waked of all charges after his contribution to a movie about Saddam Hussein’s where an Israeli actor was also performing.

“Normalization” always raised problems, especially with Arab Israelis unable to meet other Arab because of their “wrong” passport. On the other side, Arabs artists who visit Palestinians, even in the Occupied Territories, face trouble. It was the case recently with a Tunisian singer, although he was invited by the major Palestinian phone society.

Last October, the organizers of the first Middle East International Film Festival of Abu Dhabi also had to cope with normalization. First, they were supposed, according to some Israelis newspapers, to put an Israeli film, called The Band’s Visit, in their program. Under the threat of a boycott by many Arab professionals, they denied such an intention although it is known that pressure for the selection of that movie has been put on them, as on other Arab film festival organizers.

Later on, an Egyptian documentary, called Salata Baladi (Mixed Salad), also raised the issue of normalization. The film is based on the real story of an Egyptian family, from a “mixed” religious origin (Christian, Jew and Muslim). The family is split between various countries, especially since a part of it went to Israel in 1946, something Mary, a leftist activist and grant mother of the movie maker, Nadia Kamel, never accepted. But the old lady finally accepts to brake the taboo of “normalization” and goes to Israel in order to visit her “lost” family.

Salata Baladi has been seen, by some Arab viewers, as an unacceptable call for “normalization” unless the film is obviously anything but a “black and white” story.

What happened to Salata Baladi – even if the film was defended by many voices in the Arab world – reminds us of the reactions provoqued by the short visit, back to Haifa, that Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish made last summer.

Obviously, normalization remains a controversial issue, and a painful one.

To read the original and more detailed post in french
And that link for the blog on Salata Baladi film (arabic and english)