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Cannes Film Festival: What did Arab participation look like this year?

Sherine Sherif

BBC

6 June 2022

 https://www.bbc.com/arabic/art-and-culture-61692418

The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival concluded a few days ago with the announcement of the "Triangle of Sorrow" by Swedish director Robin Ostlund as winning this year's Palme d'Or.

The film carries a distinctly sarcastic tone, mocking a particular class of Europe and exposing its view of art and the value of international materialism to the values ​​of humanity.

Looking at the festival's films this year, the filmmaker raises questions about his role in the arc of specific political ideas on the artistic value in choosing the winning films.

Part of this question extended to include a part of the Arab attendance at the festival, which was known for its excellent juries, but it was controversial about films, especially those that received awards.

A boy from Heaven and the Holy Spider: Politics or Cinema?

The film "A Boy from Heaven" by Swedish director of Egyptian origin, Tariq Saleh, won the award for best screenplay in the festival's official competition, and it sheds light on the Al-Azhar Foundation and its relationship with the Egyptian state.

The Egyptian critic, the jury of the Critics Union at Cannes this year, Ahmed Shawky, considered that "the audacity of the topic addressed by Saleh won the admiration of critics and the international reputation, but the weakness of the artistic side of the film made it a wasted opportunity."

Shawky added in an interview with the BBC: "Tariq Saleh has freedom in making an attractive film that allows him to freely present political conflicts and balances of power, and I am with him in that, but my problem with the film is that it did not present these issues in an appropriate artistic manner, and this is very prominent when compared to the Iranian "Holy Spider", directed by Ali Abbasi, as the two films are similar in production conditions and the sensitivity of the subject to the countries concerned, but it is clear from the comparison that there is a problem in the essence of the characters of the film "A Boy from Heaven", where you find yourself in a struggle between ideas and not a conflict between the characters of the film. "

Tariq Saleh's movie was filmed in Turkey because the director was not allowed to shoot in Egypt. Most filmmakers believe that the film will not be screened in Egypt due to restrictions imposed on the director and his works by the Egyptian government, which was indicated by Saleh himself while receiving the award.

While the Egyptian director and director of the Cairo Film Festival, Amir Ramses, expressed his dislike of the film from a technical point of view, he expressed his sympathy with Saleh for his inability to shoot the film in Egypt and present it to the Egyptian audience to judge its artistic content.

And this is not the first time the festival has sided with controversial films. Last year, the Egyptian movie "feathers" by Omar Al-Zuhairi, won two prizes at the festival, one of which was the grand prize for the International Critics' Week competition in the 74th session, which is the first prize for an Egyptian film. Long in the history of the festival. The film sparked a lot of controversy in Egypt when it was shown.

Tunisian representation led by Egyptian-American

Tunisian participation could be the richest in the Arab world this year. Tunisia was officially represented in a look competition through the movie "Harga" by the American director of Egyptian origin Lotfi Nathan, where the Tunisian film hero Adam Bessa won the award for best actor in the competition.

The film is the director's first fictional work. It deals with the problem of poverty, unemployment and marginalized groups through the story of a young man in his twenties who is pushed by events to set himself on fire in front of the governorate building without paying attention to any of the passersby.

On choosing the subject of the film, the director, Lotfi Nathan, told the BBC: "I decided to make the film to make a symbol of the character "Bouazizi" and I think that ending the film with no one's indifference to the hero's burning of himself is the truest end of his story. Indifference has become a global phenomenon now."

The Tunisian director, Youssef Chebbi, also participated in the festival with the film "Ashkal", while the Tunisian director, Areej Al-Sahiri, participated in the film "Under the Fig Tree" in the "Directors Half Month" competition. The two films represent the first time that both directors have struggled to direct fiction.

Presence of Palestinian and Moroccan films

The "One Look" competition also witnessed distinguished Palestinian participation by director Maha Al-Hajj in the film "Mediterranean Fever", which won the award for best screenplay. The film tells the story of an ambitious Palestinian writer who suffers from depression and develops a friendship with his fraudulent neighbour, who begins to implement an evil scheme to help him get out of depression.

In the same competition, Moroccan director Mariam Touzani participated in her film "The Blue Caftan", which is her second participation in the festival's activities, as she previously screened her film "Adam" in 2019 edition.

The events of "The Blue Caftan" revolve around the life and secrets of a couple who run a shop specializing in Moroccan caftans in the city of Salé, adjacent to Rabat.

A "Historic" Arab Presence in The Juries

At the level of jury committees, Cannes Film Festival this year witnessed distinguished Arab and Egyptian participation. Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah headed the jury for the short film competition, which selected nine short films.

From Egypt, film critic Ahmed Shawky chaired the International Federation of Film Critics jury, while Moroccan critic Jihane Bougrain participated as a member of the same committee. Tunisian director Kaouthar Ben Hania, director of the film "The Man Who Sold His Back," presided over the critics' competition. Furthermore, the producer Muhammad Refaat participated in the Cannes-Doc jury in the docs-in-progress section.

Egyptian critic Tariq El-Shennawy believes that this year's Cannes Festival has become a political platform, not only because of the festival's choices and awards but also because of the speech given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the opening, which is not in line with the nature of the event, as an artistic, cultural front.