In light of the controversy sparked by the artist, Youssef El Sharif, about his refusal to perform emotional scenes in his works of art, the term "clean cinema" came back to impose himself on the artistic scene, through a debate that brought the issue back to the fore. It is not the first time that this term has appeared in Egypt, as its start dates back to the second half of the nineties of the last century, with the introduction of comic films of a youthful nature, free of scenes or hot overtones, and addresses all members of the family, such as "Ismail Rayeh Jay", starring Mohamed Fouad, Mohamed Heneidy, Hanan Turk, and directed by Karim Diaa El Din, then the movie “Saidi at the American University” by Mohamed Heneidy, Ahmed El-Sakka and Mona Zaki, and directed by Said Hamed, who achieved unexpected success and reaped revenues that exceeded the stars of the films in that period, but the most prominent success of the two films What followed the films that went on the same combination is the return of families and families to cinemas again, after a long boycott that resulted from the wave of contracting films, a term given to films that were prepared with minimal budgets, and poor technical level, for tired of video tapes, and exported to countries The Gulf, which started around the mid-1980s, culminated in 1986, along with other films, some of which focused on the drug phenomenon, while others carried a sign of “adults only”, which led to the reluctance of Egyptian families from the weekly “space of cinema”, which was a feature Of alive features The educated middle class in Egypt in the sixties and seventies of the last century, so that the pioneers of theaters are confined largely to youth.
Wide controversy
The 1980s also witnessed widespread controversy, perhaps one of the most prominent attempts to impose ethical standards on artwork, about the movie "Love has a last story", 1986, directed by Raafat Al-Mihy, starring Yahya Al-Fakhrani, Ma’ali Zayed and Abla Kamel, as a number of lawyers submitted requests to stop the screening of the film And the trial of his hero for a charge that includes hot scenes, and indeed like Fakharani and Ma’ali Zayed in front of the Public Prosecution Office for investigation, before issuing the order to acquit them. But these lawsuits were repeated in the nineties against several films, the most important of which are "Birds of Darkness", "Terrorism and Kebab", by Waheed Hamid and Sharif Arafa, and "O Dunya O Grammy" by Majdi Muhammad Ali, and "Paradise of the Devils" by Osama Fawzi, who presented Two other films also sparked widespread controversy in the first decade of the current century: "I love cinema" and "in natural color."
Young generation
The success achieved by the movie “Saidi at the American University” encouraged the emergence of a generation of young artists, who, with time, became the stars of this stage, including Ahmed El-Saqa, Mohamed Heneidy, Ahmed Helmy, Karim Abdel Aziz, Sherif Mounir, Mona Zaki, Ghada Adel, Yasmine Abdelaziz, and the artist Hanan Turk who wore Hijab, and she tried to continue acting, and made TV series, but in the end she decided to retire. The films of these artists were characterized by their lack of a hot scene, and their familial nature that suits both adults and children, and most of them stuck to refusing to participate in works that contain nudity or bold scenes, which called the writers and directors who work with them to exclude any topics that require bold scenes, while producers and directors used non-artists Egyptian women for bold roles.
Support and opposition
The emergence of the "clean cinema" movement divided the opinions on the artistic scene into two halves, a supporter who believes that he has the credit for restoring the audience to the theaters again, and putting an end to the control of films that were dependent on hot scenes on the film industry, as well as being in line with the nature of Arab societies , And respects its customs and traditions. And an opponent sees that this trend prosecutes artworks with moral standards, which is not fair, and does not reveal its intellectual, social and artistic value accurately, as it contradicts the role of art in expressing real life with all its details, attitudes and issues, in addition to that it pushes the author to impose self-censorship on What he writes to please or fear society’s ruling or artists ’refusal to agree to perform the scenes, considering that the films presented under the name of“ clean cinema ”were free from hot scenes, as well as from deep and urgent issues in society, and contented themselves with providing simple social stories. While some opinions considered that this trend will increase with the hardening of time to become against cinema and art in general. With time and around the beginning of 2007, bold films reappeared strongly through a number of films that discussed social issues in a bold manner, including "Al-Rayes Omar Harb" and "Kabareya" and "Al-Farah" and "when soft" and "Dokan Shehata" who opened Once again, the debate about cinema and ethics was again presented, and the Ministry of Culture also provided grants for funding for some films, such as "in natural color", by Usama Fawzi, and "Rasayel Bahr" by David Abdel Sayed.
In the crosshairs
This controversy strongly resumed, after the statements of the artist Youssef El Sharif, during a television program, that he places a clause in the contracts of his works, in order not to present “hot scenes”, in implementation of his parents ’advice to stay away from this type of work, after watching the film“ She Chaos », as opinions were divided between a supporter who believes that what the Sheriff is doing falls within the framework of personal freedoms, and his right to work according to his personal convictions. While the other opinion considered that by doing so it imposes its restrictions and conditions on the rest of its employees, which affects their freedom as well, besides that its refusal to perform certain scenes includes a condemnation of the rest of the artists who perform it. Stressing that art is not subject to conditions, and that there are fixed technical standards to judge the quality of artwork, it does not include personal standards that differ from one person to another. While a third opinion appeared, his companions accused Youssef El Sharif of bidding in his position, which is not the first time, as he previously tweeted advising his fans not to leave the prayer to follow the dramas presented during the month of Ramadan, including a work that he starred, noting that many artists present films that do not include scenes Hot, but they didn't explicitly mention it or publicize it to reap the sympathy of certain audiences.
- the eighties saw a sensation, perhaps the most prominent attempts to impose moral standards on the artwork.
- The lawsuits pursued many films, the most important of which are: "Birds of Darkness", "Terrorism and Kebabs", "I Love Sima" and "In Natural Colors".