ON THE REDABILITY OF POLITICAL POSITIONS IN EGYPTIAN CINEMA

Film screening ‘Terror and Kebab’ (Egypt 1992, Arabic with German subtitles) followed by a discussion by: Fadi Abdelnour (ALFILM), Bettina Gräf (ZMO Berlin);

Introduction and moderation: Irit Neidhardt (mec film).

This evening is a collaboration with mec film Berlin.

Sheri Arafa's movie Terror and Kebab (al-Irhab wal Kabab, EG, 1992, 105’) tells the story of a low-ranking public servant in Cairo. After failing to submit his application because of the obstacles of Egyptian bureaucracy and as consequence of the permanent praying of the authorized officer he freaks out and starts a revolt. In the Arab world the film had an audience of millions and belongs to one of the most successful Egyptian movies ever. It was even running in US-American cinemas and was much noticed in analyses by film scholars, which was quite unusual for commercial films. Especially the anti-islamism and the broad caleidoscope of society which is drawn in the movie found an interested audience. In the context of the uprising at the beginning of the year 2011 Terror and Kebap was shown in Europe and the US as a revolution movie which horrified many revolutionaries of Tahrir Square. For them the movie represented the old regime which they attempted to overcome. Especially 'superstar' and main actor Adel Iman as well as the script writer and director are public personalities, who politically represent the old regime of Mubarak. In his ISOE-project Comparison of Appearance the artist Mohamed Abdelkarim deals with Sayyid Qutb as a mentor of those who are generally offended in Terror and Kebap. Bettina Gräf (ZMO and project partner of Abdelkarim) and Fadi Abdelnour (artistic director of the Arab Film Festival ALFILM) will talk after the screening of the film about political symbolic figures and their different interpretations at home and abroad.

all photos (c) André Wunstorf