AWAITING SHOWTIME

By Sabria S. Jawhar
The Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH

This is a good news, bad news kind of story. Think of it as yes, it s yours, BUT
A Saudi company recently received government permission to establish six cinema halls in the Eastern Province. That s the good news for people who like to watch movies. But government approval doesn t necessarily mean that cinemas will suddenly pop up throughout the Kingdom.
A senior official at a Saudi firm, who asked that he and his company not to be identified so future projects will not be jeopardized, said his company received permission from the Eastern Province emirate to establish six cinema halls in a grand mall that is still under construction and that would be the largest in the region. He described his company as one that deals with entertainment based on Saudi society s needs and hopes but also in a way that keeps within Islamic regulations, customs and traditions.
The project started at a grand mall that would satisfy the needs of all family members including children. As part of the project, he added, a space for six cinema halls was included in the blueprint of the building.
We got permission but we were told that if we face any difficulty with the religious [authority], we have to deal with it personally, he said, But because we had some bad experience and we don t have a system upon which we can get into debate with them. We cancelled that part of the project.
He said, however, that the building is constructed in a way that gives them space to establish cinema halls in case the prevailing attitude toward theaters changes.
If anything has changed, we will be the first to introduce cinemas, he said.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice refused to comment. They also declined to discuss whether cinemas in Saudi Arabia will be allowed in the future as globalization continues to impact Middle East countries.
The dilemma faced by the company wanting to build movie theaters illustrates the authority the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice wields on local matters, especially from region to region.
The Commission has always been a pillar of the Kingdom since its foundation. The main role of its personnel is to prowl the streets and shopping malls calling Muslim men to prayer. It also makes sure that the regulations of Islam are not violated.
A 35-year-old Saudi man, who asked for anonymity, said Commission s influence varies from one region to another based on people s level of acceptance of its ways.
When television was introduced for the first time in Saudi society it caused riots for religious reasons but it survived due to the government s support for educating people about local and international news.
Commercial movie theaters have abandoned Saudi Arabia, although wealthy merchants and princes have private cinema collections and entire film libraries in some cases. Films, too, are shown at the various embassies for European or American constituencies. Nobody can tell exactly whether the elimination of cinemas was due to a government policy or the influence of the Commission.
Jeddah, perhaps the most cosmopolitan city in Saudi Arabia, had during the late 1960s and early 70s cinemas that presented uncensored Egyptian, American, Turkish and Indian movies.
I still remember those days when my friends and I used to go to a cinema in Al-Balad (old city), said Abdullah Ahmad, a 45-year-old Saudi. It was owned by one of Jeddah s merchants.
Ahmad said that those cinemas used to present movies weekly. It was open for families and singles but on different days so they don t mix. Some wealthy people, he added, rent home cinemas for private parties, such as Sabe a (a party held after the passage of a week from the marriage party or the seventh day of giving birth to baby).
During the late 70s an abrupt change occurred for several religious reasons. Cinemas were closed and female singers were prohibited from appearing on television.
Dr. Hassan Al-Nemi, a professor of modern literature at King Abdul Aziz University and a member of Jeddah Literary Club, said that there was cinemas all over Jeddah until 1979.
There were cinemas in several hotels, including one that was called the Half Moon Hotel in Obhor, he said.
He said different internal and external factors contributed in the abandonment of cinemas. The social transformation following the 1979 Grand Mosque event has made Saudi society more religiously sensitive to different issues. The Islamic movement in Iran that same year, as well as different outside factors have also added to the situation inside the Kingdom. He said that the Saudi society has put itself in a difficult spot that it is trying to get out now.
He said that both the government and society share the responsibility for the present situation as the government has always been the leader for any enlightening move, including that the movement leading to formal girls education.
If the government wants to pursue a leading role and create a quality transformation, it has to keep pushing and supporting the society, civil institutes to perform their role well, Nemi said. Theater and cinemas are very important vessels for society members represented by the family that doesn t know where to go all together for entertainment.
He said that with the increasing access to satellites, with channels broadcasting uncensored version of Western especially Hollywood films, Saudis seem to be more open and seeking more entertainment.
Youths, for instance, are starved for entertainment that is offered in neighboring Arab countries, although they want it in a way that doesn t offend the sensitivity of the Kingdom.
We don t mind having a heavily censored cinema that is similar to the Saudi television, said Emad Abed, a high school Saudi student. The most important thing to us is the setting and the feelings one might get when we go to a cinema abroad. It would also give us a sort of relieve instead of mangling with peers in shopping malls or setting in road sides.
Yet Emad doesn t want a family cinema where all members of the family enjoy watching movies simply because he doesn t want his male friends to see his sisters.
If they see my sisters, they will certainly tease me the next day at school, the thing that I can t handle, he said.
Dr. Ahmad Al-Banan, a professor of Islamic studies at Um Al-Qura University in Makkah, sees no need in having cinemas in the Kingdom, although he believes that there is no harm in cinemas if films are screened like those on the television.
But he said large gatherings in a dark and sensational atmosphere like that of cinemas abroad might lead to violation of Islamic regulations as illegal relationships might grow due to being affected by those factors.
We are a Muslim society, he said. Why should we follow the West in whatever they do, we know the coraruption they are living as a result of these things.
He said Islam was the first to introduce acting and theater as a way of illustration and clarification of wrong and right. God, he added, has set examples in the Holy Qur an for people. Educational theater is something that is wanted for spreading awareness and correcting misconceptions, he said, but the cinema in its present form is only a hideout for corruption.
He said that censoring films by a group of people might help in avoiding certain religious sensitive issues, but he wonders how long those people would last in that type of work.
After establishing cinema s halls in the country over a long period of time, freshly hired censors might not be as good as the previous ones. This, he added, would lead to the same result that the West is suffering now. The decision to abandon cinemas in the Kingdom is what we call in Islam preventing seduction factors, he said.