Q What is the status of the film industry post-revolution?
A Here in Egypt, the majority of films are financed by big businessmen, so when the economic recession hit in 2008, these businessmen stopped pouring money into the field. The number of movies produced in 2009 dropped from 56 to a little over 20 films a year.

By 2010, the economy started picking up again only to be put on hold following the events of January 25.

Nonetheless, the high number of cinema-goers during this last Eid break proves that people are hungry for movies. They want to go out and be entertained. For example, Saad El Soghayar and Dina’s El Haram Street has set a new record for number of viewers.

And Ahmad Helmy’s new movie X-Large also became a box office hit. I’m hoping that this will tempt more producers and filmmakers to make movies.

Q What is the best and worst thing in film this year?
A The best thing is the success of Ahmad Helmy and Ahmad Abdalla’s movie Microphone.

And as for the worst thing, it would have to be that for the last six months the entire industry has been at a complete standstill.

Q Has the revolution really paved the way for underground filmmakers?
A Definitely, but the real question is will they be able to not only continue but to grow and develop as well? I hope they do.

Q Has the revolution really affected how censorship works?
A Not really. If anything, it has gotten stricter and more conservative.

Officials are becoming stricter because they are afraid to take risks.

Q How do you think the outcome of the elections will affect the film industry?
A We will be faced with a more conservative government for sure, but this new government will have two choices. The first choice is to prove us wrong and to support freedom of speech.

The second choice is to prove our fears to be right and try to put more censorship on creativity.

Which of course will be faced with a lot of resistance from our side. We didn’t make a revolution on oppression to have more oppression in return.

Q Do you think we are ready for censorship-free media?
A Of course we are. I strongly believe that we are, but I don’t think that we believe we are — [it’s] a kind of self-censorship.

We got so used to being censored by the government that we have lost faith in ourselves.

Movies should not be censored but should follow a rating system like abroad. et