Egypt Stops Screening Of "Jews of Egypt" Documentary Film

The documentary the "Jews of Egypt" was set to open in three theatres in Egypt on Wednesday, and even though the censorship board had previously approved, security agencies suddenly nixed the screenings for no apparent reason. Although I'm sure we can all surmise why.

The "Jews of Egypt", a documentary that follows the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century until they left under duress in large numbers in the late 1950s, was screened in Egypt last year in a private film festival and had been approved by censorship, a regular procedure in Egypt.

Film producer Haytham el-Khamissy said he heard from the chief of the censorship authority that a security agency asked to view the movie before granting it a license to be shown in theaters.

"I was shocked when he told me this and when I learned that this had already happened" before the 2012 festival screening, el-Khamissy said in a statement posted on the film's official Facebook page.

"There is no excuse for this except delay and obstruction," he said. "I announce the delay of the screening of 'Jews of Egypt' until a solution is found for this inexplicable problem, inherited from long years in the parlors of the Egyptian state securities and which aim to terrorize thought and repress creativity."

Read the rest here.