What’s Up?
Muhammad Diyab • Asharq Al-Awsat

Saudis were not given the opportunity to watch the first-ever Saudi movie called “What’s Up?” The film was not and will never be available to be viewed inside the Kingdom because we have begun producing movies without there being any public cinemas. The idea of constructing and establishing cinemas in the Kingdom still faces a lot of illogical and unjustified hostility.

When you go to movie shops, you’ll find almost all Eastern and Western movies on sale. This means that there is opposition to having public cinemas but no opposition to the content of movies. I believe that having supervised public cinemas is something safer than allowing people to watch movies uncensored at home. Children watch movies at home alone without the supervision of their families. Cinemas are like empty containers that we can fill up with whatever we desire.

What cinemas face is no different to the type of objections that other modern inventions such as cell phones, televisions, and the Internet once faced. Ironically, many of those past rejectors are the ones who now use and benefit from these modern developments.

This article, originally from Asharq Alawsat appears in Arab News in translation.

The writer makes the ironic point that there’s a Saudi film industry without there being a single film showplace in the country. He finds that the current regulations prohibiting cinemas make absolutely no sense. And how can Saudi filmmakers begin to prosper if they can’t show their products in their home countries?