Arab cinema
Arab cinema or Arabic cinema refers to the film industry of the Arab world. Most productions come from Egyptian cinema, and Cairo has been the capital of film industry in the Arab world since the early 20th century to the present day.
The first screening of a motion picture in Egypt occurred in Alexandria in 1896 by the French Lumière Brothers. The Egyptian industry developed from silent movies to talkies, with musicals being the bulk of the productions in the 1930s and 1940s. Of the first Arab-produced films was the 1923 Egyptian film Barsoum Looking for a Job, and Laila, released in Egypt in 1927, while the first Arabic speaking film was Awlad El-Zawat, also released in Egypt in 1932. Studio Misr, founded in 1935, was the first national studio of its kind in the Arab world. The period from the late 1940s to 1960s has been described as "the golden age of Arab cinema", as Arab actors from across the Middle East headed to stardom in Cairo. During this period, notable actors included Hind Rostom, Mahmoud el-Meliguy, Anwar Wagdi, Feyrouz and Soad Hosny. In the 1950s, Egypt's cinema industry was the world's third largest. In 1952, the Egyptian Catholic Center for Cinema Festival was founded to become the first annual film festival in the Arab World. In 1976, the Cairo International Film Festival was established, becoming the first International film festival to be held in the Arab world. Egypt has also contributed to the action genre with actors such as Youssef Mansour who became famous in the 1990s for his martial arts films.
The Egyptian-Jewish Frenkel brothers—Herschel, Shlomo, and David—are regarded as the pioneers of the art of animation in Egypt and the Arab world. Inspired by early American cartoons and silent comedies, they released their first animated film in 1936 titled Mafish Fayda. The first Arabic-language animation series was Mishgias Sawah, released in Egypt, while the first feature-length Arab animated film is The Knight and the Princess, also released in Egypt in 2019. The first television drama in the Arab world, Hareb Min el-Ayyam, was broadcast from Egypt in 1962 during Ramadan. Often called the era of New Arab Cinema, during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the influence of Italian realism and the response to political upheavals combined to create a body of independent Arab films that included traces of Arab melodrama. In 1972, the Kuwaiti drama film Bas ya Bahar became the first narrative feature film in the Gulf, and is considered one of the most important Arabic-language films in Arab filmmaking.
Egypt's domination of Arab cinema has been credited to its development of the dramatic arts, wealth of studios, experienced directors, technicians, film stars, singers and belly dancers. Since the 2010s, a "new wave" of Arab cinema has included films that explore links with genre cinema – including fantasy, sci-fi and horror. Since the Arab Spring, Arab films have also become more political. In what has been described as a "vibrant new era" of Arab cinema, the 2020s has seen a growth in the Saudi film industry, with some stability in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. In 2023, the Egyptian 3D horror film Day 13, became the first Arabic 3D film. In the same year, the Saudi horror film, The Cello, became the first Arabic international horror film. Also that year, Sukkar, backed by the Saudi-owned production house MBC Group, was touted as the Arab world's first musical movie in the Western canon. Currently, the Middle East's largest cinema chain is Vox, owned by UAE-based Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas.
Overview
Arab cinema includes films from various countries and cultures of the Arab world and therefore does not have one form, structure, or style. Arab cinema mostly includes films made in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia; however, by definition, it also includes Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. In its inception, Arab cinema was mostly an imitation of Western cinema. However, it has and continues to constantly change and evolve, as each country in the region has its own unique characteristics and identifiable brand of cinema.Egypt, in particular, is a pioneer among Arab countries in the field of cinema. A sustained film industry was able to emerge in Egypt when other parts of the Arab world had only been able to sporadically produce feature-length films due to limited financing. As such, Arabic cinema is dominated by films from Egypt, where three quarters of all Arab movies are produced. According to film critic and historian Roy Armes, Lebanese cinema is the only other cinema in the Arabic-speaking region that could amount to a national cinema.
While Egyptian and Lebanese films have a long history of production, most other Arab countries did not witness film production until after independence. Even at the end of the 20th century, most film productions in countries like Bahrain, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates are limited to television or short films.
Elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East, film production was scarce until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when some filmmakers began to receive funding and financial assistance from state organizations. It was during the post-independence era, when Arab cinema in most countries started. Most films produced at that time were funded by the state and contained a nationalistic dimension. These films helped to advance certain social causes such as independence and other social, economic and political agendas.
There is increased interest in films originating in the Arab world. For example, films from Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia have been shown more often in local film festivals and repertoire theaters than during the late 1900s.
Arab cinema has explored many topics from politics, colonialism, tradition, modernity and social taboos. It has also attempted to escape from its earlier tendency to mimic and rely on Western film styles. In fact, colonization did not only influence Arab films, but it also had an impact on Arab movie theaters. Also, the portrayal of women became an important aspect. Arab woman shaped a great portion of the film industry in the Arab world by employing their cinematic talents in improving the popularity of Arab films.
However, the production of Arab cinema has also experienced decline, and filmmakers in the Middle East have been trying to "face up to their reality".
Origins and history
Full-length feature films began to be produced locally in the Arab world after the 1920s. For instance, the Egyptian film Laila in 1927. At that time, the process of inserting sound into movies used to be done in Paris, and Egypt was only able to produce two sound films, one titled and the other . In addition to the Syrian film , presented in 1928, in Lebanon in 1929. Although these films were produced in the Arab world, they mostly were directed, produced, or showed artistic influence from foreigners or immigrants.Film production in Arab cinema
Arab cinema did not flourish before the national independence of each of them, and even after, the films production of Arab cinema was restricted to short-length films. However, there were exceptions for some of them. For example, Egypt scored the highest number in producing films and produced more than 2,500 feature films. During the 1950s and 1960s Lebanon produced 180 feature films. Two full-length Kuwaiti films were produced at the end of 1970s, and a full-length Bahraini film was produced in 1989. Syria produced around 150 films, Tunisia approximately 130, 100 films were produced each in Algeria and Iraq, almost 70 in Morocco and the films made in Jordan were less than 12.Movie theaters in the Arab world
The influence of films and cinemas on Arabs was due to the effect of the West on the Arab world; therefore, natives were not the owners for the movie theaters that are located in their own lands.The first cinema in Egypt was built by the French company Pathé in 1906 in Cairo, aside from the cinématographe that was owned by the Lumière Brothers in Alexandria and Cairo. In Tunisia, they had the Omnia Pathé, which did not launch before 1907.
In 1908, a cinema called "Oracle" was opened in Jerusalem by Egyptian Jews. Also in 1908, in some of Algerian cities, cinemas were built in places depending on the population of Europeans who lived there, such as in Oran. Less than 20 years later, most of the Arab countries had more than a theatre for films screening. In Saudi Arabia and North Yemen, cinemas were not accepted or were prohibited because of religious objections.
Between the 1960s and 1970s, however, this issue was, in general, solved and accepted by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. In alliance with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman's vision of 2030, which calls to expand the artistic, cultural, and entertaining fields in the country, there opened the first cinema in Jeddah on 18 April 2018.
Impact of conflict on Egyptian and Palestinian cinema
The history of the Arab cinema was impacted by political challenges such as the Egyptian revolution of 1952, defeat by Israel in 1967, and the Palestinian resistance.During the 1952 Egyptian revolution, the feudalist system was substituted with a nationalist ideology led by the Rais. This new government had impacted the film industry, in which many of the films produced were 'social realist' works depicting the real life of Egypt. Many of the films produced by Salah Abou Seif in 1952 were neorealism such as Master Hassan, which portrayed the difficulties of the different classes in Cairo. This system is said to be derived from the Italian neorealism, though it was not very successful as only a few films were produced.
File:Ahmed Zaki.jpg|thumb|160px|Ahmed Zaki in Alexandria... Why?
After the Arab nation was defeated by Israel in 1967, an Association of New Cinema was introduced, the representatives of which wrote a manifesto in 1968 calling for "the emergence of a new cinema with deep roots in contemporary Egypt," wherein "It is necessary to establish a real dialogue within the Egyptian culture to create new forms." However, the Palestinian resistance has inspired many of the Arab filmmakers since 1948 to produce films about their struggle. In fact, in 1972, an Association of Palestinians was developed to bring all the Arab filmmakers together whose work was about the Palestinian resistance.