Moments of anticipating the political scene..

Honoring Major Abdullah Al-Muheisen in Malmo: Implications Beyond Cinema

The activities of the Malmo Arab Film Festival in its new edition opened in Sweden, amid Arab and international cinematic attendance, reflecting the status the festival has achieved as a European platform presenting Arab cinema as a reading of the region, not just a screening of its films.

The festival, which is one of the most prominent Arab cinematic events in Europe, has succeeded in recent years in establishing its presence as a cultural bridge between Arab filmmakers and the European audience, by hosting dozens of works annually, organizing platforms for funding and distribution, along with programs that enhance dialogue about the region's image in world cinema.

In the opening ceremony, director Abdullah Al-Muheisen was honored as the first Saudi name to receive this recognition, for a career spanning more than half a century, during which he presented works that not only documented reality but also attempted to understand it before its completion. This honor cannot be read as a mere cultural news item, but as an indicator of re-presenting the Saudi cinematic experience as part of a broader memory.

During the honor, Al-Muheisen improvised a speech that seemed closer to an intellectual reading than a celebratory address, in which he indicated that cinema for him was not a story to be told, but an attempt to understand the political path of the region and anticipate where it might lead. He cited the regional escalation, from the American-Israeli war on Iran to Iranian attacks on Gulf states and attempts to drag them into prolonged conflicts, confirming that these features had previously been addressed in several of his films.!!.

This approach redefines Al-Muheisen, not only as a film director but as a political thinker who used the image as an analytical tool. His philosophy was not based on providing ready-made answers, but on deconstructing the scene, asking questions, and reading transformations before their completion. This explains why his works appear to be re-read, not just watched.

Within the festival program, the screening of the film 'Assassination of a City' by the celebrated international director Abdullah Al-Muheisen was not just a revival of an old work, but a new reading of it at a different time. The film, which documented the Lebanese civil war, presented Beirut as a city gradually assassinated, not by a single event but as a result of accumulated conflicts and overlapping agendas.

This aligns with a replay of the historical scene that has long been occurring, as Beirut currently faces continuous Israeli attacks and strikes targeting the heart of the capital and its surroundings. The image seems to reproduce itself..!! The same city, the same scene, and the conflict that reshapes itself at every stage. Here, the film is watched differently, not as a visual archive but as a document explaining how cities turn into open arenas for others' conflicts, and how crises persist when their roots are not resolved.

The importance of the Malmo Arab Film Festival lies in that it not only screens films but also re-presents them within an international framework linking past and present, giving them space for dialogue with a different audience. Therefore, honoring a name of Al-Muheisen's stature within this platform reflects appreciation for an experience carrying an intellectual dimension, not just an artistic presence.

With the clear development of Saudi cinema, this honor seems to reconnect beginnings with the present, because what we see did not start from scratch but was built on early experiences, some of which did not receive enough attention in their time.

In my many writings about Al-Muheisen's experience, I saw that he cannot be confined to a time period because he simply preceded it. He was not documenting the event after it occurred, but trying to understand it before its completion.

His honor in Malmo is not just a celebration of a name, but a re-reading of an experience... that used cinema to understand politics and presented the image as a tool of anticipation, not just documentation. So congratulations to all of us for this celebration that Al-Muheisen deserves, and which at the same time reflects the reality and artistic status that the new Saudi Arabia enjoys today.