Egypt's chief censor has recently declared that he intends to introduce changes to his department aiming at polishing the tarnished image of censorship and its role in cultural life, the Egyptian Mail reported on Saturday.
The traditional censor's role has been to axe scenes deemed even slightly provovcative in terms of sexuality.
Egypt's officialdom has been increasingly worried about offending the Islamic sensibilities of average Muslims and scholars alike, ever since riots over the publishing of a novel called A Banquet of Seaweed, which was called offensive to Islam.
Describing the old methods as narrow-minded, Madkour Thabet said that he wanted to see more room for creativity and new ideas by introducing carefully conceived policies that would appeal to both members of the entertainment community and the audiences.
The official took charge of moral and political supervision of entertainment productions in 1999.
According to the report, Thabet, a professor of film direction and former chairman of the National Center for Cinema, appears to be more enthusiastic than his predecessors about piecing together the shattered image of censors in Egypt.
Censors have been traditionally derided for their allegedly merciless editing of movies, especially when it comes to scenes or dialogue allegedly offensive to society's traditions and values.
Censors recall that they were attacked from all sides some years ago for approving the movie Abul Dahab starring actress Maali Zayed and actor Mamdouh Mouafi. The movie triggered a wave of protest among Muslim clerics and lawyers, who joined forces and filed lawsuits at courts to ban the screening of the film.
The heated dispute centered on a scene depicting Zayed and Mouafi in bed together, exchanging passionate glances and indulging in rather saucy conversation.
In the Middle East, even a kiss between an unmarried couple is usually edited out of movies before it is rebroadcast on television.
The two stars were then found guilty by the Court of First Instance of committing an act liable to endanger public morals. However, they were later cleared by the Court of Appeal, but only after the movie was withdrawn from cinema houses.
Thabet was quoted as proudly telling the Akher Saa magazine last week that he had sometimes passed movies that were condemned by his predecessors for various reasons. "To give an example, I brushed the dust off the stage play Al Nas Elli Fil Talet (Residents on the Third Floor) by scriptwriter Osama Anwar Okasha.
The play was condemned by a censor nine years ago for its political connotations and criticism. The chief censor adds that until now he has never scissored any scene from an Egyptian movie and he doesn't intend to in future – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
