Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Veteran Saudi filmmaker Shihab Jamjoom says creating a cinema industry does not mean just exhibiting films at a public place to entertain an audience for two hours, but it involves developing and building an entire mechanism for producing, distributing and screening movies.

Jamjoom was the first Saudi to graduate from a film institute in Hollywood, US, in the 1960s. American film personality George Lucas was his classmate.

A well-established movie personality in the Kingdom, Jamjoom is also a former deputy minister for information, who was actively involved in operating the first cinema theater in Saudi Arabia and one of the brains behind the popular kids' channel Space Toon.

He says besides exhibiting movies, Saudi Arabia needs to develop the talent and mechanism to produce movies.

In an exclusive interview to Saudi Gazette, Jamjoom said before the public screening of films were "restricted" in the late 1970s, movies from Egypt, Syria, US, India and other countries were exhibited in the Kingdom. He, however, added that overall there have been lots of changes since then.

"The ideology, perception and content of movies produced abroad are not suitable for the Saudi audience," he said.

"We need to produce our own cinema with our own story, star cast and equipment to suit our culture and reflect our society," Jamjoom said.

He called for a cinema academy to teach young Saudis the art of filmmaking and to train them in its various aspects from script writing, directing and casting to filming.

"Though it can be small scale in the beginning compared with other parts of the world, yet we can have something of our own," he said.

The veteran Saudi filmmaker said total reliance on foreign films is not suitable and advisable in contemporary circumstances.

Jamjoom says cinema is not something new to Saudi Arabia the way some people tend to describe. "It was very much there but was frozen for a few decades and now it will come back in a modern setting supported by advanced technology, he added.

He said a number of Saudis invested in the film industries abroad, including the US, and produced many successful movies.

With cinemas coming back in the Kingdom, all these people will love to return home to make movies, Jamjoom said.

He lamented people who are talking about the reopening of the cinemas as a revolutionary move. He insisted that movie theaters existed in Saudi Arabia in the past.

Jamjoom said his cousin used to hold distribution and exhibition rights in the Kingdom for all major Egyptian and Hollywood productions in the 1960s and 1970s.

Jamjoom urged the Saudi film fraternity to get involved in the upcoming cinema business. While also welcoming foreign expertise in the field, he emphasized appropriates roles for Saudis in the Kingdom's future cinema industry.

"The Vision 2030 is primarily for Saudis and the movies are coming back as part of this vision, hence Saudis ought to get involved," he said.

When asked about his plans to enter the industry, Jamjoom said he was preparing to open cinema theaters and was already examining locations, including independent space as well as closed sites such as the malls.