A lawsuit has been filed by one of the Egyptian lawyers to immediately stop the screening of the film “Al Bahithat An Al Hurieh” (Seekers of Freedom) directed by controversial Egyptian director Enas Dughaidi. The lawyer demanded that the film be lifted from cinema houses around <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Egypt because it violates social traditions and ethical values with its provocative intimate scenes.
Enas stressed that the intimate scenes in the film are essential to its story and cannot be omitted. The film was also awarded Best Film during the Cairo International Film Festival.
On a similar note, a group of women in Qatar have signed a petition that calls for the banning of Enas Al Dughaidi from being guest at a forum for “Violence against women in Arabic cinema held by one of the cultural clubs. Over a hundred women signed the petition that requests Qatari officials to forbid Enas from entering the country and taking part in the conference.
The petition also called for a banning of Enas’s films and her ideas that are against Arab values and traditions, especially Qatari ones. It was added that Enas’s claim that her movies symbolize women’s freedom is in fact the complete opposite insulting everything a woman should stand for.
Qatari women stressed that officials should stop the entrance of such individuals as Enas who pose a threat to society and its cultural norms through their films that concentrates mainly on sex. Enas’s film “Al Bahithat An Al Hurieh” was given an example as one of the films that simply insults women and feature them as highly sex driven.
The movie “Seekers of Freedom” revolves around three young females who go off to live in Paris in search of their freedom. The girls are Amal from Lebanon who flees from war, Soad from Morocco who runs away from poverty and her family, and Aydah from Egypt who strives to fulfill her artistic passion in France.
The three girls learn throughout the course of events that freedom is not sought in a place but must come within a person. The film stars Nicole Broadwell, Sana Muzian, Ahmad Izz, Hisham Salim, Dalia Al Buhairi.
