A group of women in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Qatar have signed a petition that calls for the banning of controversial Egyptian director Enas Al Dughaidi from being guest at a forum for “Violence against women in Arabic cinema held by one of the cultural clubs. Over a hundred women signed the petition that requests Qatari officials to forbid Enas from entering the country and taking part in the conference.
The petition also called for a banning of Enas’s films and her ideas that are against Arab values and traditions, especially Qatari ones. It was added that Enas’s claim that her movies symbolize women’s freedom is in fact the complete opposite insulting everything a woman should stand for.
Qatari women stressed that officials should stop the entrance of such individuals as Enas who pose a threat to society and its cultural norms through their films that concentrates mainly on sex. According to the daily Al Watan, Enas’s latest film “Al Bahithat An Al Hurieh” (Seekers of Freedom) was given an example as one of the films that simply insults women and feature them as highly sex driven.
The movie “Seekers of Freedom” revolves around three young females who go off to live in Paris in search of their freedom. The girls are Amal from Lebanon who flees from war, Soad from Morocco who runs away from poverty and her family, and Aydah from Egypt who strives to fulfill her artistic passion in France.
The three girls learn throughout the course of events that freedom is not sought in a place but must come within a person. The film stars Nicole Broadwell, Sana Muzian, Ahmad Izz, Hisham Salim, Dalia Al Buhairi.
