Film Journal July 2018

can be told in the cinema—and how.
Content will need to conform to
the media policy of the kingdom; movies
must be in line with the Sharia laws,
ethical values and conservative principles.
That means no sex or nudity. Bottles
or glasses of alcohol, bare shoulders
and other displays of flesh must be
obscured. Romance, homosexuality and
religious issues must be avoided, but
graphic violence in many forms is largely
acceptable. Less than 40 seconds were
reportedly cut from Black Panther.
Although the Saudi Center for
International Communications (CIC) has
quickly put in place a movie-rating system
with six different categories, including an
“over 18” rating, some wonder if it’s fully
developed and final. GCAM, which grants
cinema licenses, has spent extensive time
with cinema boards in the UAE, the U.K.,
Singapore and Malaysia—to learn from
their experiences.
A ratings system has already been
introduced for videogames. Fahad Al-
Moammar, head of the CIC, the agency
that developed those ratings, believes
they’ve benefitted everyone. “More
titles have been approved to come in
than before,” he insists, because game
publishers “understand what kind of
content to put in their pipeline.”
Many expect the final cinema censorship
restrictions will be similar to those
in Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE, where
offensive scenes are simply chopped out.
As some observe: “Most movies that play
in Kuwait last for about an hour.”
Beyond censorship, there are other
concerns—including fears that the GCAM
may set up a single entity as the sole
distributor of films—so all studio releases
will have to go through a governmentowned
company that would control
the market. Studios worry that one
monopolizing body—that determines
which films play, where and when, and
potentially under what terms—would
severely hamper their business.
It would be exponentially worse if the
sole distributor rumored to be chosen
were to insist that Saudi TV rights be
included in any deal—because that could
put the movie business firmly in the hands
of the government.
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These issues and more were on
the agenda for panel discussions and
roundtables planned for the Cannes Film
Festival. Decisions are coming; growing
pains continue.
Still, it appears that the risks are worth
the potential reward.
“Where else are you going to find a
movie market that literally doesn’t exist
today that could be $1 billion in size in five
years or so?” asks AMC chief Adam Aron.
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“We have a young population, a
vibrant society and a low supply of
entertainment,” concludes GEA chairman
Al Khateeb. “Welcome to Saudi Arabia.”
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