CANCELLATION OF THE JEDDAH FILM FESTIVAL: "TAKE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000267

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD, ECA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/18/2014
TAGS: PREL PHUM SCUL KISL SA
SUBJECT: CANCELLATION OF THE JEDDAH FILM FESTIVAL: "TAKE
ONE"

REF: JEDDAH 0113

JEDDAH 00000267 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: CG Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The fourth annual Jeddah Film Festival,
slated to open July 18 was cancelled at 11 pm on July 17.
While local media coverage has been limited, what little
there is suggests public disappointment at the cancellation.
Several theories have been offered by Saudi blogs and post
contacts for the festival's cancellation ranging from
concerns about nomenclature (the blatant use of the word
"film" vs. "visual arts"),controversial film topics, the
prospect of "unIslamic" socializing in darkened movie
theaters, as well as speculation about a princely attempt to
reinforce political leverage by strengthening the religious
police. Following represents Post's "first take" on the
event. END SUMMARY.

ELEVENTH HOUR CANCELLATION
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2. (C) In conversation with post, Mamdouh Salem, the annual
Jeddah Film Festival organizer since its inception four years
ago, stated that an unknown official from the Jeddah
Municipality contacted him at 11 pm on July 17 communicating
cancellation of the festival. Salem was informed that with
apparent guidance from the Grand Mufti, Minister of Interior
Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz had issued a declaration preventing
film screenings and licensing movie theaters in Saudi Arabia
in an effort to "serve the public interest." The
cancellation was communicated to all Governorates via a
directive from Naif,s office by Prince Khaled Al Talal Bin
Abdulaziz. Khaled,s brother, wealthy investor Prince Waleed
Al Talal owns the Rotana Satellite Channel, the primary
sponsor of the festival; the channel will likely suffer a one
million SAR (USD 260 thousand) loss as a consequence.


3. (SBU) The Jeddah Film Festival has been a much anticipated
and publicized event in Jeddah for the past four years.
Media coverage of the cancellation has appeared in three
newspapers; two Arabic and one English language in addition
to mention on two liberal Arabic language blogs. Arab News,
an English newspaper published in Jeddah, covered the
cancellation in a front page article reflecting deep
disappointment including interviews with Mamdouh Salem and
Saudi film critic Fahd Al Osta, who credited the festivals
with improving the Saudi film community.

THEORIES ABOUND
--------------


4. (C) Several theories are circulating about the
cancellation. The public reason for the cancellation is that
the festival venue at the Jeddah Municipality's King Abdul
Aziz Cultural Center was not well prepared to receive the
audience, perhaps alluding to concerns over capacity or
mixed-gender film-goers. The Cultural Center Director,
normally forthcoming and candid with Consulate officers, was
deliberately vague in relaying the explanation that
"site preparations and other elements" caused the
cancellation.

NOMENCLATURE: CALL IT "VISUAL ARTS" BUT NOT "FILM"
-------------- ---


5. (C) Festival organizers believe that part of the problem
lay in the title of the festival itself -- Jeddah Film
Festival. Historically films were screened in private clubs
in Saudi Arabia until all screenings were banned in the early
1980s on the grounds that the viewing of "movies" contravened
Islamic law. Since its inception, the Jeddah Film Festival
organizers have consciously referred to the event as the
"Visual" Festival, a euphemism which enabled them to screen
films while avoiding censure. However, this year organizers
chose to emphasize that they were "screening films," playing
a role in developing a "film industry" and were planning to
launch the &Saudi Film Club8 during the course of the
festival. While the selected films were largely
conservative, and from the Western perspective neither
provocative nor offensive, portraying a positive aspect of
Islam, they were nonetheless marketed as "films." The
organizers believe that if they had maintained the delicate
nomenclature of "visual arts," the festival might not have
caught the conservatives, attention and sparked its
cancellation.

CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT

JEDDAH 00000267 002.2 OF 002


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6. (U) A slate of 71 films filled the schedule of this fourth
annual Jeddah Film Festival including 50 films from GCC
countries and 15 European films. Among them were the first
Yemeni entry, portraying the development of terrorism in
Yemen, and a European entry portraying parent-child conflict
about educational and career decisions. In an attempt to put
a positive spin on a bleak situation, Salem opined that the
cancellation might be "a positive step" by the Saudi
Government to control the export of Yemeni terrorism and
potential parent-child friction to susceptible Saudi youth.
However, this theory, by Salem's own admission, is unlikely.

SAUDIS DATING IN MOVIE THEATERS
--------------


7. (C) In conversation with post, a female IVLP former
participant who sits on the Festival's panel of judges
relayed the panel,s perspective on the cancellation; they
believe that the films' content had nothing to do with the
cancellation decision, but rather the social implications of
creating Saudi audiences for film was a major concern.
According to the judges' speculation, influential religious
scholars are deeply concerned about unmarried Saudi men and
women consorting in darkened cinemas thus contravening
Islamic law. Their fear was communicated to the Grand Mufti
-- with the resultant cancellation.

PRINCELY STRATEGY
--------------


8. (C) COMMENT: The cancellation as well as its last-minute
timing were major disappointments for the film lovers of
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,s most liberal city. The depth of
festival preparation(which carefully took into account local
customs and laws),the government's permission to stage the
festival at a facility under Jeddah Municipality patronage,
and a three-year successful track record all seemed to
indicate SAG official support for the developing film
industry and Jeddah,s trend toward liberalization through
the arts. Recent support in the Shura Council for legalizing
public cinemas, rumored plans for building movie theaters in
city malls, and the Jeddah public,s developing thirst for
films(reftel) set the stage for a successful fourth festival
-- making the abrupt cancellation as unwelcome as it was
unexpected.


9. (C) Further speculation from post contacts and Saudi blogs
suggests that the cancellation may be part of Prince Naif,s
strengthening of the Committee for Promotion of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) in order to control Islamic
practice and promote conservative behavior. With Naif likely
next in line to the Saudi throne behind a progressive King
and an absent Crown Prince, some Saudis are arguing -- among
themselves and on the blogs -- that the Jeddah Film Festival
cancellation and the renewed activity of the Mutawa'een
(CPVPV) may be a part of a princely strategy to win support
from conservative Islamic quarters to solidify his power base
and project energy and authority in the face of doubts about
his vitality. END COMMENT.
QUINN