However, Tunisian filmmakers have managed to develop their industry by introducing new genres, technologies and ideas. Two prime examples of invention and innovation appearing in the country’s cinema are Abdelhamid Bouchnak’s Dachra (2018) and Ala Eddine Slim’s Tlamess (2019). Dachra is the country’s first horror film and ushered in a wave of genre film production in the country, with the help of horror tropes to criticize the dominance of religion, showing a new means of expression for directors to get censored. Meanwhile, using an extremely distinct form of surrealism, Tlamess achieves militarism, assigns gender roles and existential boredom, while offering Arab cinema its first scene of complete nudity.
Elsewhere in Yemen, Libya and Syria, the key focus on film production has been to describe the deteriorating conditions in these countries, as seen in various documentaries by filmmakers now living in exile, such as Freedom Fields (2018). , Libyan director from London, Naziha Arebi; The Cave (2019) by Copenhagen-resident Syrian director Feras Fayyad; Syrian colleague Waad Al-Kateab co-directed For Sama, documenting his departure from his warrior homeland; and Yemen: The Silent War (2018), by Los Angeles-based Sufian Abulohom.
The future of Arab cinema
A decade later, the revolutionary energy of the Arab Spring is still evident, alive and on the big screen. The popular uprisings in Algeria and Lebanon in 2019 and 2020 have given rise to images that adopt narratives similar to those of the first Arab Spring films – from Karim Aïnouz’s colorful portrait of the young Algerian revolutionaries, Nardjes A. (2020), to May many Lebanese projects in the pipeline that could now be scrapped after the Beirut blast last summer drew hope for a happy ending for protesters.
In Sudan, meanwhile, a revolution took place nine years after the first wave of the Arab Spring began, which also led to the growth of cinema in the country. However, as Sudanese filmmakers reflect on events, it is clear from their films that they have learned the precious lesson that revolutions could fail at any time and that the road to democracy is long and difficult. Two documentaries from 2019 capture the essence of a country on the verge of change, but question the tangible possibility of an extensive institutional review. In Suhaib Gasmelbari’s Talking About Trees, a group of veteran filmmakers try to revive an old cinema outside Khartoum only to be confronted with stifling bureaucracy that is not expected to dissolve in the near future. The same repressive rules are facing a group of sportswomen who are striving to gather the country’s first women’s football team in Marwa Zein’s Khartoum Offside, who stresses that the country’s supreme patriarchy will continue to challenge reformist efforts.
As for the original uprisings? The legacy and consequences of the Arab Spring continue to haunt the region’s cinema, and yet a full account of what happened in 2010 and beyond is yet to be said. The most popular hits about the uprisings – Jehane Noujaim Square (2013) in Egypt; the beauty and dogs mentioned above from Tunisia; countless Syrian documentaries – offer simple, digestible narratives, intended for a largely Western audience, who are not aware of the nuances and complexities of the region and its history. And since almost all independent Arab films rely on European capital for funding, productions are usually modeled on what the West expects to be in the Arab world and are ultimately evaluated by Western critics with little or no knowledge of the region.
The rise of Sudanese cinema and the remarkable evolution of Tunisian films will ensure that the spirit of the Arab Spring remains lit on the big screen. On the other hand, the true story of the rise and fall of the Arab uprisings is still waiting to be told.
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