Cyrine Abdel Nour to Play Virgin Mary, Egyptian Censors Object its Screening in Egypt

In a bold move, Lebanese artist Cyrine Abdel Nour decided to play the role of virgin Mary in the new movie “Sar Ensanan” (He Became a Human).

The movie tells the story of Jesus Christ from his mother's point of view. A Lebanese production, the movie is written by Claudia Marshillian, the screenwriter of “ Ruby,” a very successful show in Egypt. The movie is directed by Elli Habib.

The movie will feature Christ and the Virgin Mary as main characters which is totally refused by the Egyptian censors on religious basis. The movie revived the controversy that was raised by Mel Gibson's “Passion Of The Christ.” The movie was banned from Egyptian and Arab theaters as it contradicts a religious principle of not featuring a religious symbols on screen.

Abd El Satar Fathy, member of Egyptian censorship body said to that “Sar Ensanan,” if produced will not be screened in Egypt. He explained that El Azhar, the highest Egyptian religious authority, is totally against featuring religious characters on screen. Fathy added that drama series like Omar, Youssef Al Sediq and Mariam, all presenting religious characters had the same problem with censors that filed law suits against the channels screening those shows.