Experts urge govt funding, better markets for Arab cinema Friday, 29 October 2010 06:42

BY RAYNALD C RIVERA

DOHA: Government funding, building more cineplexes and educating viewers are needed to save the dying film industry in the Arab world, according to experts at the DTFF 2010 Doha Talks yesterday.

“The problem with Arab movies is the market; not enough theatres to screen these movies,” said Tarak Ben Ammar, CEO of Quinta Communications, whose recent film productions include Rachid Bouchareb’s Outside the Law and Julian Schnabel’s Miral.

“From 400 movie theatres, there are currently only 10 theatres in Morocco and the same trend happens in many countries in the region,” he said, citing lack of anti-piracy rules as the main reason for the decline.

Another problem that Ben Ammar mentioned is while countries spend billions of dollars for armaments, no fund is allocated for film production.

“Other than Qatar I’ve never seen any country that gives much attention to developing the film industry,” he noted, lauding the efforts of DFI Founder and Board Chair H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

“We must invest in our culture because if we do not, who else will,” he emphasised.

Educating audiences is also vital to encouraging especially the youth to watch movies, and this can be done through providing them quality films, said Ben Ammar.

While the film industry in the region lacks lustre except in some countries like Egypt and Turkey, the region is witnessing a very vibrant television industry. “There are around 990 Arab channels, the most in the world. Television can be the hope for talent,” he said.

The panel also focused on the changing landscape of the star system in Hollywood. Bhuvan Lall, President of Lall Entertainment, said the star system was very much alive in Bollywood.

THE PENINSULA

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