Saudi film student recognized
From Oct. 2007.
American University of Sharjah student Mohammad Bajnaid received great news that his film "20th of May" was selected for the prestigious Emirates Film Competition. Bajnaid, originally from Saudi Arabia was delighted by the news.
The film includes scenes of students using drugs. The comedic tale of a few guys pulling an "all nighter" was almost banned from being shown. Drug use is a very serious crime here so it was no surprise the film raised eyebrows and some people even considered shelving the film. Nevertheless the message of Bajnaid's film is a positive one and thankfully his excellent direction, acting and comedic timing trumped any call to censor the film.
American University of Sharjah student Mohammad Bajnaid received great news that his film "20th of May" was selected for the prestigious Emirates Film Competition. Bajnaid, originally from Saudi Arabia was delighted by the news.
The film includes scenes of students using drugs. The comedic tale of a few guys pulling an "all nighter" was almost banned from being shown. Drug use is a very serious crime here so it was no surprise the film raised eyebrows and some people even considered shelving the film. Nevertheless the message of Bajnaid's film is a positive one and thankfully his excellent direction, acting and comedic timing trumped any call to censor the film.
posted by UAE Students at 11:33 AM
2 Comments:
Banning or attempting to ban his movie is ridiculous! I can’t seem to understand why the media censorships people in the Middle East as so uptight. Rather than encouraging these creative artists to bring out their talents, in a productive, creative way; tackling real, prevalent issues occurring here in the Middle, instead, they intimidate these people and impose difficulties along their paths. I guess they are in denial about the problems happening in their societies. Depicting these problems through the media just brings them back to reality. Sadly, it is clear movies with drugs are the least of our problems.
It's more about: in what context the content is being shown. If there's a positive message and the intention is to, let's say, discourage drug use then that's a good thing. Having to use visuals or metaphores related to drugs then becomes a tool in justifying its use; and it's clear that is the reason why the movie was actually selected for screening.
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