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Banning the screening of the film “The Last of the Miracles” at the opening of the El Gouna Film Festival has sparked controversy in Egypt.

Hours before the start of the seventh session of the El Gouna Film Festival, those responsible for the artistic program changed the program of the opening ceremony by removing the Egyptian film from the screening and replacing it with the short film “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”. “

There were conflicting reports about the reasons for banning the film from being shown, a decision that reopened the debate about “censorship of artistic works” in Egypt.

The story of Nagib Mahfuz

The film “The Last of the Miracles” is adapted from the short story “Miracle” from the short story collection “The Black Cats In” by novelist Naguib Mahfouz, and the plot of the film “revolves around the relationship between the material and spiritual worlds”.

The film follows the story of a forty-year-old journalist named Yahya who edits the obituary page of a Sufi sheikh who tells him he wants to meet him, but things happen when Yahya discovers that the sheikh is with him. has died

The artwork was directed by Abdel Wahab Shawqi, and stars Khaled Kamal, whose image is at the top of the film’s promotional poster.

A decision without reason

The reason for the film not showing at the opening of the El Gouna Film Festival as scheduled has not been announced, with director Abdel Wahab Shawki confirming in a Facebook post that he has “no official or clear answer. Why was the film withheld from display?

For her part, Egyptian art critic Magda Khairallah said that the failure to screen the film “The Last of the Miracles” at the opening ceremony of the El Gouna Festival “came for no apparent reason.”

Khairallah expressed his “regret” on Al-Hura’s website for the decision, which he described as “inhumane and barbaric”.

According to the industry critic, the film received censorship approval because it was only a script on paper, “How can it be prevented from showing at a festival opening or from being shown in any other way of exhibition. Justification?”

Repeated events

This is not the first time that Egyptian cinema has prevented the screening of an artistic work, as it decided not to show the “atheist” film without explanation.

The film “Atheist” deals with the issue of religious extremism and atheism among the youth.

Khairallah explained that most artistic works are now subject to classifications that specify age groups suitable for viewing them, saying that “censorship and banning of artistic and literary works does not benefit society in any way.”

Khairallah drew attention to the “material and non-material damage” of the participants and responsible for any artistic work that receives approval from the censors before the photo is taken and then it is decided to block it, “calling for respect for the regulatory law”.

Art critic Tarek El-Shenawi, instead, expressed a position that “absolutely” rejects the ban on artistic works and says that he “saw the film himself, and there is nothing in it that would scare the censors into showing it”.

El-Shenawi believes that the decision not to show the film “The Last of the Miracles” was a result of censorship in Egypt “fear” of “any voice in religious garb that could cause tension”.

He cites what happened with the film “The Atheist”: “Despite receiving the necessary approval from the censors, the producer Ahmed al-Sabki was given a verbal order to stop showing it earlier.”

Although the film “Atheist” “criticizes atheist ideas,” according to the art critic, “the title alone frightened the censor, so he reconsidered his earlier decision to approve it.”

He says, “Censorship intervention in Egypt is usually taken as a warning. If a film or a scene in it is likely to provoke anger in someone’s mind, it is better to ban it.”