Saudi Arabia to allow movie theatres after 35-year ban

It is a part of a broad campaign by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to transform Saudi society

In the latest in a series of gestures toward modernisation that would once have seemed improbable, Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it would allow commercial movie theatres to open for the first time in more than 35 years.

The moves to allow access by early 2018, part of a broad campaign by the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to transform Saudi society, followed measures that would give women the right to drive and to attend soccer games, and that would allow concerts and other forms of public entertainment.

Although satellite television and video downloads have made the ban on commercial theatres all but irrelevant, the announcement highlights the diminishing power of the kingdom's conservative clerics. The grand mufti, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, publicly called commercial films a source of "depravity" and opposed the opening of movie theatres as recently as a few months ago.

And opening the door to such changes raises suspenseful questions about how far they will go, beginning with the issue of what movies will be shown and how they may be censored.

Taken together, the loosening of the restrictions is "very real and quite significant," said Jane Kinninmont, a scholar at the British research organisation Chatham House who studies Saudi Arabia, adding that "maybe there will be some jobs created in a new agency to censor the movies" along the way.

The social overhauls are part of a broad plan to open up the kingdom's economy and to reduce its near-total dependence on oil. To that same end, the crown prince has simultaneously embarked on a broad crackdown against corruption, holding members of the Saudi elite in a luxury hotel, in what has been described as an effort to force them to repay billions of dollars diverted into personal coffers from other transactions.

Critics say the detentions were intended, in part, to neutralise potential challengers.

Prince Mohammed, the 32-year-old favourite son of King Salman, 81, has amassed a degree of personal power without precedent in Saudi Arabia, and he has indicated no interest in political reforms to parallel his programme of opening up the economy and social rules. The most prominent cleric the crown prince has jailed, Salman al-Awda, was known for advocating loosening social rules while putting in place democratic political changes, and he appears to have been detained for the latter.

The prince has promised that he will use his power to move Saudi Arabia toward a more tolerant form of Islam than its religious establishment has promoted in the kingdom and around the world for decades.

In a statement, the Culture and Information Ministry said the government would begin within 90 days licensing movie houses to open. It did not indicate what kind of movies the government might allow to be screened, but made clear that films would be governed by Islamic law.

"The content of the shows will be subjected to censorship based on the media policy of the kingdom," the statement said. "The shows will be in line with the values and principles, and will include enriching content that is not contrary to Shariah laws and ethical values of the kingdom."

Kinninmont of Chatham House noted that Saudi Arabia's national airline already shows commercial films on seat-back screens during flights, which may offer clues to the future standards for theatres. No films with sex or nudity are shown. Bottles or glasses of alcohol are obscured with pixels, as are bare shoulders or other displays of flesh. The movie selections, she said, avoid romance and tend toward gore, "since there does not seem to be a problem with showing things that are graphically violent." 

It was unclear how movie theatres' seating would be configured in a conservative kingdom that enforces gender segregation in most spheres of life. Restaurants and coffee shops are divided into different rooms, one for men and the other for families. 

The ministry said it hoped the move would "encourage economic growth by developing the culture and media sector, and offer new employment opportunities," including 30,000 full-time jobs by 2030.

Saudi Arabia began closing movie theatres soon after it adopted ultraconservative religious standards in 1979. Saudi clerics denounced Western movies, and even the many Arabic-language films made in Egypt, as contrary to the teachings of Islam.

Some of Saudi Arabia's neighbours, notably the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have movie theatres that are regularly visited by Saudis. And even though it has outlawed cinemas, Saudi Arabia has actively encouraged filmmaking, showcasing Saudi films at a festival in the eastern city of Dhahran. In March, the fourth Dhahran film festival had 59 Saudi films on its programme.

Saudi movies, some dealing with the delicate issue of gender separation, have also been screened at prestigious cinematic events outside the country.

In 2013, the film Wadjda became the first Saudi entry for the Academy Awards. It told the story of a 10-year-old misfit girl who yearns to have a particular green bicycle so that she can compete with boys. But acquiring the bicycle means breaking several taboos. The film had a female director, Haifaa al-Mansour, and was filmed exclusively in Saudi Arabia.

Barakah Meets Barakah, described as Saudi Arabia's first romantic comedy and directed by Mahmoud Sabbagh, was also entered for the Academy Awards. It premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016.