Al-Watan

THERE are hundreds of Saudi films but only a few Saudis have seen them despite the fact that the Saudi film industry has made rapid strides over the past years gaining an important position in the cultural and artistic landscape of the Gulf as well as on the world stage. Some directors were successful in displaying their films at international film festivals while a few of them have received awards and rewards in other festivals. Such participations have been instrumental in strengthening the Saudi film industry and enhancing its global reputation.

Saudi cinema, like its counterparts in other Gulf countries, digs in the rock for two main reasons: Firstly, the conservative groups in the society rejects cinema although other groups defend it as an entertaining art form. Even at official level, cinema is yet to receive wide acceptability. But things are moving in favor of the groups that respect cinema as a modern art.

Secondly, Saudi films are not popular in the community as they rarely watch them except on YouTube if directors allow uploading of their films on that visual platform. Quite often Saudi films are only heard and rarely viewed by people except in some major events that take place in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam where they are displayed only for a day or two. Thus, the majority of Saudis are unable to watch them.

Some cultural and arts associations, especially in the three big cities, sometimes organize film shows, film weeks or film making contests. The film festival organized by the Saudi Cultural and Arts Association in Dammam is the most famous among them. It has become a major annual cultural event in Saudi Arabia drawing a large number of cinema fans. The King Abdul Aziz Cultural Center in Dhahran also backs such events while the Cultural and Arts Society in Riyadh holds some film shows from time to time.

But Saudi Arabia is not restricted to Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah. It’s a vast country with many important cities and townships populated by a large numbers of residents. Is it not their right to watch the movies they hear about? It is important that Saudi film shows must be conducted in most cities and in every nook and corners of the country to promote art and culture, strengthen the film industry and enhance Saudis’ awareness about cinema as an important art form.

This is a task that can be carried out by cultural and arts associations in the country in such a way that it overcomes obstacles that block the progress of cinema. We need a new vision, even if it is purely material, so that Saudi films are presented in an effective and excellent way, enhancing people’s awareness of cinema and highlighting the importance of the Saudi film industry.

How can we do that? I have a simple answer. Show films at theaters of cultural and art associations and meet its expense by selling tickets to viewers. Those who talk about the difficulty in conducting such programs without adequate facilities should understand that such film shows can be conducted without much expenditures and charging a maximum of SR20 per show. Cultural associations should make use of their available facilities and resources to organize such shows, instead of blaming authorities that they do not provide them with enough financial support.

The idea is as follows: Prepare a schedule for displaying Saudi films, whose number has exceeded 300, including fictions and documentaries. Select the best films out of them to screen one film every week for two or three days in all cultural and art societies in the Kingdom without exemption.

They should identify fixed days for film shows so that people can come to the society to watch films on that days paying SR15 or SR20 as entry fees. Most of these cultural associations have their own stages and theaters to screen such films so they can organize such shows without any additional cost and earn some revenue. They can also support film producers from this revenue.

This way film shows will become a cultural and commercial activity, adding value to the community. It will also help them organize film shows in a simple way without incurring big expense. This will play a big role in promoting cinema and will have a greater impact than holding film weeks at cultural and art societies once in a year.

The idea of receiving government and institutional support to conduct such cultural programs must be eradicated from our minds because it no longer works. Even if there is government support, deadly bureaucratic process would make it impossible.

I would like to propose that film shows should be transformed into a commercial activity to help associations receive financial returns that would enable them to organize such programs without government support. The dependence on the Ministry of Culture and Information should be just for supervision and the associations must be given full freedom to handle the revenue they earn through film shows and other cultural programs.

Cultural and art associations must look for programs that would help them earn revenues, and film shows could play a significant role in this area as they provide entertainment to the public and can draw a large number of people who love such programs.

Let us be honest. We know that only the big cities receive financial support to organize cultural events. As a result recreational, artistic and cultural events are restricted to those cities while people of other cities and townships in the Kingdom are denied such entertainment programs. If cultural and art associations are allowed to organize film shows after selling tickets it would solve this program to a great extend. Film shows can become a major gateway to overcome this cultural monopoly of major cities and help associations organize such shows every week, instead once in a year.