Posts Tagged ‘Film’

The backlash against the pimp of Jidda ends with the crack of a whip; Yemenis making movies

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Just as a quick update for those wondering the fate of Mazen Abdul Jawad, the Saudi who spoke openly about his escapades on an LBC program over the summer: A Saudi court has sentenced the divorced father of four to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes–for violating the Kingdom’s law against “publicizing vice.” Video of the segment here (knowledge of Arabic helps … but you can get the gist, I think, from the visuals):

In other visual media news, the Yemen Embassy is participating in the Arabian Sights: Contemporary Arab Cinema (starting tonight in D.C., dear readers), with the very first Yemeni-produced movie, according to the press releases/the amazing trailer:

“Yemen’s first locally produced film, An intriguing and compelling plot, An exploration to the price of terrorism”

I’m not exactly sure what the plot will be, but based on the trailer, if you know what Allahu Akbar means, you can get by without knowing Arabic. I’m also left wondering; does first locally-produced film really just mean first government-funded propaganda feature-length propaganda piece? Interesting timing, with the Yemeni government confirming yesterday that “hundreds” of soldiers have been wounded and killed in the fighting against the Houthi in the northern region of Sa’ada.

(HT: BT for the Jawad update.)

Because B&B is the most underrated ME blog

Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Sadat at Camp David

Sadat at Camp David

The L.A. Times’s Babylon & Beyond may have a kinda stupid name (especially considering they rarely post about Iraq), but they land quite a  few gems. Like, say a lawsuit from a bint of a kalb? (I would probably be insulted too.)

Rokaya Sadat, elder daughter of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, claims the memory of her father has been sullied by a Hollywood film that has named a dog after him. Sadat has filed a lawsuit against Minister of Interior Anas Fekki for allowing the release of the “I Love you, Man” in Egyptian cinemas.

The movie, which stars Paul Rudd and was released in the U.S. in late March, has been showing in Egypt for three weeks. Sadat has demanded the immediate halting of its screening and the confiscation of all copies until a judgment is reached regarding her suit.

One of the film’s main characters calls his dog Anwar El Sadat. In one scene, when asked if he chose the name because of Sadat’s political views, the character responds by saying that the dog merely looks like the former president, who was assassinated by Islamic radicals in 1981. The movie’s credits also contains Sadat’s name as himself/the dog.

Despite omitting the scene from the version currently playing in Egyptian cinemas, many pundits believe that it should have never been shown in this country.