Khaberni - Critic Tareq El-Shennawi, through his private account on "Facebook," wrote a post in which he revealed that the director Mahmoud Yahya, the director of the film "Mariam's Choice," ended his sit-in and hunger strike after the management of "Zawya" cinema decided to show his film, in sympathy with his health condition, and El-Shennawi called on the filmmakers' union to intervene to provide a healthy environment for the creators.
El-Shennawi wrote saying: "I learned from the friendly director Saad Hindawi that the young director Mahmoud Yahya has stopped the hunger strike, I await that we discuss the matter calmly, and the question is how do we protect creators in our country from threatening to commit suicide? I have always been against using this weapon, whatever the reasons, yet this does not prevent me from demanding the intervention of the filmmakers' union to prepare a healthy environment for every creator in my country who wants to express himself and finds no outlet nor window."
Mahmoud Yahya's crisis with "Zawya" cinema
It is worth mentioning that the management of "Zawya" cinema had issued an official statement in response to the controversy surrounding the sit-in of the director Mahmoud Yahya, and his hunger strike demanding that his film be shown in the most famous independent hall in Egypt.
The statement said: "We followed the situation of director Mahmoud Yahya and his continued hunger strike demanding that his film be shown in "Zawya" cinema. After months of insistence by the director to include his film in the "Zawya" program, we contacted the film distribution company and suggested they organize a showing in "Zawya," which the director rejected. The distribution company informed us that other cinemas refused to show it, and based on that, we decided to show it in "Zawya" out of concern for the director's health and life, and not for any other reason, emphasizing that providing a commercial showing opportunity is the responsibility of the distributor, not the cinema."
The statement added: "We realize that the current situation makes us one of the few outlets available to many independent filmmakers, however at the end of the day we are a cinema and a cultural institution always striving to achieve a balance between showing films that align with our tastes and the context in which we operate, and this does not necessarily mean including any film offered by distribution companies in the program, nor does it imply any negative evaluation of the film itself in any way."
The statement concluded by saying: "We affirm our right to program and select what we see fit for our program, which we never imagined one day we would have to include a film to preserve its maker's life, without needing to justify our decisions to other parties, and this does not conflict with our ongoing commitment to support independent directors as much as we can as an exhibitor."
