Enas al Deghaidi looks for Arab actresses to star in her new movie that is sure to create a fuss

Published December 9th, 2002 - 03:00 GMT

Considered one of the most provocative directors of our time, controversial Egyptian director Enas al Deghaidi will still be the cause of various hot debates in the Arab World for her films. She is currently gearing up for her new film “Ghaba Min Shooq” (A Forest of Thorns). The UAE based daily Al Bayan, reported that the director is looking for three potential Arab actress to take up the starring roles in the new film that is anticipated to spark a big fuss.

The film will revolve around the lives of three single young females living in France, who face many difficulties and fall into problems that will lead them to make important decisions in their lives. The director has laid her eyes on Tunisian actress Hind Sabri, who took the leading role in her film Muthakkarat Murahiqa (Adolescent’s Memoirs), as the first choice for one of the three females.

Enas is known for arousing violent reactions among the audience and critics with her hot film scenes. Her film “Muthakkarat Murahiqa” (Adolescent’s Memoirs) is considered by some observers as an insult to the Egyptian girl, which prompted one of the viewers to file a lawsuit against her. She was found not guilty in the lawsuit raised against her for defaming girls in Egypt.

The court has said that, "the director has not harmed Egyptian girls directly when she described them as crossing the red lines as was stated by one of the actresses in the movie.” Egyptian censors gave the green light to Enas after deleting most of the provocative sex scenes from the film.

“Although many people objected to many scenes in the film and demanded banning it, I nixed that and asked the censors to meet the director and screenwriter to discuss with them the omission of the objected scenes. Both the director and writer agreed to omit six scenes in response to the censors’ demands,” the chairman of the Censorship Committee, Madkour Thabet, said.

The film, which was scripted by Abdel Hai Adib, is about an adolescent student named Jamila (Hind Sabri), who is a romantic girl coming from a middle class family with dreams of love. Jamila fanaticizes about herself as Cleopatra, with her lover Antonio. She meets her lover accidentally and lives with him as if in a love story.

Despite all of this, Deghaidi insists on her style in tackling issues in the cinema pushing the envelope of challenge. She adds that “The reaction to the film is very good and this is evidenced by the large revenues it generated and the large number of people who saw it. The film doesn’t in any way insult the woman and just brings-to-lightsome of the prohibited acts a girl may violate.

Deghaidi, who is mostly recognized for her courage in addressing women's issues, has convinced Yusra to star in one of her movies, after a series of successful films the two worked on together since the 90s.

The daily added Deghaidi was able to talk Yusra into starring in her new movie "Nisaa' Bila Tajarob" (Women Without Experience), marking the fifth cooperation between the two. The four movies were, "Imra'a Wahida La Takfi" (One Woman Is Not Enough) in 1990, "Dantella" in 1998, "Kalam al Leil" (Night Whispers) in 1999, and "Al Warda al Hamra" (The Red Rose) in 2001.

Once asked about the frequent and provocative sex scenes she uses in her movies, Deghaidi answered, "I try to deal with the social issues, however, they always, in one way or another, transfer themselves into one major issue: sex!!" - Albawaba