Minister of Culture Reveals Real Reason Behind “Noah” Ban

Egyptian Minister of Culture Gaber Assfour has stated that he sees no reason at al for banning films depicting the life of prophets, replying to a question about the Azhar dispute caused by the film “ Noah”, adding that films about the lives of the prophets Jesus and Moses were previously screened in Egypt.

In the interview with CBC Extra, Assfour denied the presence of any dispute between him and the Azhar foundation, saying that the whole issue is subject to personal interpretations of religious law, and that Egyptian culture has been voluntarily deformed since the 1970s by Muslim extremists.

About Ramadan television series, Assfour pointed out that the makers of historical series should have used the help of professional historians, to avoid accusations of falsification and offering misleading content to wide audiences, giving an example with the 1992 historical series “ Bawabet el Halawany” (El Halawany's Gate), in which writers collaborated with historian Yonan Labib Rizq for the sake of producing historically accurate scripts.

Assfour also considered Gamal Suleiman's performance as late president Gamal Abdul Nasser unsatisfactory, blaming Suleiman's failure mostly on his Levantine accent, and stating that Ahmed Zaki was the only actor who successfully reincarnated Nasser.

He also praised the “Alfan Midan” monthly celebration and said that it is a new, true and progressive understanding of culture that must be sustained.