As conflicts escalate in the Middle East and North Africa, from Palestine to Yemen and Sudan, filmmakers have seen an increase in solidarity within the local creative community to find ways to continue film production in the region. However, producers and directors are struggling to navigate an increasingly tense and politicized international landscape and expressing concerns about the future of an industry that has seen unexpected growth over the past five years.
“We are in the middle of a very scary situation right now and we don’t know when it will end,” said film producer Alaa Karkouti, CEO and co-founder of MAD Solutions, the most prolific distributor of Arabic film content in the Arab world. . There is the issue of local productions, but any non-Arab productions will also look at the political situation before coming to the region. “This is the most pressing issue in the world right now.”
Karkouti, who distributed Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” mentioned how the drama — which became the first Sudanese film ever to be screened as part of the official selection at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival — opened doors for Sudanese directors, who were then to see those The doors are tightly closed in the wake of the country’s civil war. “There have been a lot of hot projects coming from Sudan, and now it has become impossible to film in the country.”
I have said it many times and I believe it: we are in the golden age of Arab cinema. “But it is about stability,” Kakuti added. “Talent, budget and passion are all important, of course, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have stability.”
Mohamed Hefzy, one of the region’s most prominent producers and CEO of Film Clinic, told Variety that he is currently working on a Sudanese project that had to be filmed in Egypt due to the war. “This is just one of many examples I’m involved in where people come together to try to find solutions to help films reach completion. Filmmakers are always finding creative ways. “Necessity is the mother of invention as they say, so it’s about necessity – you can’t stop telling Stories, so we find ways and adapt.”
Hefzy also recently faced challenges while working on Sherine Daibes’s film All That Remains of You, which will have its market premiere as part of the prestigious Atlas Workshops at the Marrakesh Film Festival. “We suddenly had to change our plans after October 7. We had to film elsewhere, which made it more difficult because not only was the budget much higher, but we had to pivot very quickly to find additional money. It was a real uphill battle.”
Laila Abbas, whose sophomore student submitted an essay titled “Thanks for Banking with Us!” It had its regional premiere in the Arab region at the El Gouna Film Festival, and she is also open about her current struggles as a Palestinian director whose future in the industry becomes less clear by the day.
“We have to be realistic. I had two stories for my next films, and now I have to think about them differently,” she said. diverse. “I need to be honest with myself; Things have changed in terms of who I can collaborate with. “Thank you for banking with us!” It is a co-production between Palestine and Germany and I don’t know if I can do it anymore. People are very afraid of anything Palestinian right now. “It’s a whole new world for us.”
Abbas also talked about traveling to festivals with her film during this difficult period in her homeland. “The smallest decisions become so difficult. How do I present myself? How can I even think about doing my hair and makeup for festivals? It feels wrong. I feel like I should be wearing black. I’m trying to make it work, but it’s a huge test.”
With the intense politicization of conflicts in the region, directors and producers fear they will not be able to co-produce with Europe, a practice more common in the MENA region. With this in mind, some industry heads have turned their eyes towards the possibility of joint local production, with neighboring countries joining forces to tap into the region’s growing funds while sharing expertise.
“Independent filmmaking in the region has long relied on European co-productions, but in light of the political situations we are witnessing, the question is: Will films be subject to censorship?” asks producer Rula Nasser, founder of the Jordanian company The Imaginarium Films. “I don’t think people want to talk about the conflict. The ideologies are becoming deeper, but what we do is not just about telling stories. It’s also about documenting what’s happening because it’s something that will live forever.”
As questions persist regarding the future of filmmaking in the MENA region, another major concern is what will happen to the films that do make it. The general feeling in El Gouna among some of the industry’s top brass is that major festivals are afraid to program overtly political films about ongoing conflicts, while distributors are also becoming more and more fearful.
“Sometimes festivals are the only lifeline for these films,” Hefzy mused while highlighting the importance of platforms like El Gouna, Marrakesh and Cairo. “It’s very difficult to get distribution. Distributors are less willing to take risks today, which is unfortunate, but festivals can give films life.
Nasser is worried but remains optimistic: “Resistance creates means. Maybe special platforms will be launched for these films because people will search for them. If there’s an issue around the world that you don’t know much about, you start looking for information beyond just scrolling on social media. Where there is a hunger for knowledge, there is a way.”