Cinema Abu Safiya: I wish we could have it back!

On 22 March, Alex Rittmann wrote in the UAE newspaper The National a report entitled: “Escape to the movies: How banning the cinema in Saudi Arabia became a benefit to tourism in the UAE”. It stated that about a quarter million Saudi tourists visited the UAE in the summer of 2010 to view movies, and in the report Saudi director Abdullah Al-Ayaaf said that 90% of visitors to the cinema in the State of Bahrain were Saudis!
Even from my own observation when traveling during specific seasons to places such as Dubai, Manama, Cairo, Beirut and others, there is an indication that tourist from Saudi Arabia are very keen to visit cinemas. Relatives and friends also admit a keen interest in watching movies, which is among their priorities when traveling abroad.
That’s why many people constantly ask about the reasons for preventing cinemas here in the Kingdom, and about the possibility of allowing it with time. Especially since modern developments and the openness of the media over the Internet and satellite channels that give access to entertainment.
Public cinema houses in Saudi Arabia have been around since the 1960s and continued until the late 70s. Later these were strictly prohibited for social and religious reasons.
Several years ago, I visited a friend and was struck by his exhibition of reels of old films that he kept after the closure of Abu Safiya’s cinema house, famous in the seventies in Al-Hendawia neighborhood in Jeddah. We watched a mix of Arab and Western films made famous in that era. What drew my attention was the deletion of any offensive scenes or bad language. Personally I did not attend screenings in any of the local theaters in Jeddah during the 70s, but there were many. A total of 50 cinema houses scattered throughout the country were mentioned in the literature, as entertainment theaters reserved for families and single men at different times. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice constantly visited them for censorship purposes.
Two years ago in the Riyadh daily newspaper (Jan 12, 2010) there was a report on a symposium in this regard under the title “Cinemas… The majority is waiting for them to be permitted”. This put forward the possibility of a comprehensive deal, within Islamic guidelines that would reduce current obstacles to opening cinemas.
The role of cinemas for the general public can be to provide entertainment and show a selection of family type movies that are distinctive, meaningful, decent and suitable for all ages. Indeed, I wish the return to the era of the likes of Abu Safiya cinema so that I can escort my family to watch well-selected movies in my own country, instead of traveling all the way to other countries just to be able to watch movies on a big screen!

Al-Madinah newspaper