JEDDAH, 17 April 2007 — Next Saturday, the Saudi Society of Arts and Culture in Riyadh will mark a month since it began public screenings of Saudi films in the city. The screenings will continue for another month and are the result of efforts by Saudi directors, who have worked hard to have their work shown.
The films have been allowed to be shown once a week to a male-only audience. Two Saudi films are to be shown on Saturday called “Hijab and The Inherited Treasures” and “Road Dreamer” by Saudi director Nidal Damashki.
The show will begin at 8.30 p.m. at the Saudi Society of Arts and Culture on Khulais Road.
Seven Saudi films of different types — documentaries, shorts, long narratives and cartoons — have been shown so far, said Saudi director Muhammad Bazeid. Most of the films that have been shown or which will be shown in Riyadh were shown to mixed audiences last summer in Jeddah at the first Saudi Arabian Film Festival.
However, in Jeddah the festival was a completely independent private sector event whereas in Riyadh, the films are being shown under the umbrella of the government.
“Jeddah was a great opportunity for us, but we still want to reach as many people as we can all over the Kingdom, especially in the country’s capital,” said Bazeid.
This is not the first time Saudi filmmakers have been allowed to show their work in Riyadh.
They have done so twice before. Once it was held at the Riyadh Literary Club, which is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Information.
Last August, the Fiction Group within the Riyadh Literary Club organized a roundtable discussion entitled “The Relationship Between Novel and Cinema.”
Writers in the group invited Saudi directors and cinema critics to share their ideas on the subject and in order to encourage them, the group allowed two short Saudi films — “Taxi” and “The Last Piece” — to be shown. The screenings were of course for an exclusively male audience.
“This time it is different,” Bazeid pointed out. “This is not just a one night event. It is something that will go on for two months and is at a government organization. It is a huge step for us.”
The main goal of the two-month exhibition is to provide an opportunity for citizens to watch Saudi films in the Kingdom. Another equally important goal is to seek official recognition for Saudi films and filmmakers since many have already been recognized and praised outside Saudi Arabia in such countries as Holland, France and the United Arab Emirates.
The Society of Arts and Culture is currently being transformed into an administrative organization with various civil society institutions emerging from it, such as a fine arts group, a photographers’ group, a dramatists’ group and others, according to the newly appointed manager, Yousif Al-Othaimin.
