The Film Saudi Arabia Doesn't Want You To See
Shooting Horses in Saudi Arabia
Thundering hoofbeats echo, then some of the most beautiful horses on earth emerge from the haze in the deserts of Arabia. Beduoin horsemen charge across the landscape, jockeys today break from the racing gate, cowboys gallop roping cattle, show jumpers leap six foot hurdles. That is what you will see in the film "A Gift From the Desert: The Arabian Horse."
If you ever get to see it.
The government of Saudi Arabia is trying to block the film's release.
The obvious question is "Why in the world would they want to do that?" It is not a simple answer.
Perhaps the film is historically flawed? "Brilliant,a wondrous film! For joy as well as wisdom view this beautiful film" writes noted MidEast Historian Dr. Carney Gavin. Journalistically flawed or simply boring?
"A wonderful film! A fascinating and entertaining story" writes Pulitzer Prize Winner and former Publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Karen House. Somehow ofends Islamic sensibilities? "The film is good. It will win awards" writes Amb. Turki Al Faisal, Dir. of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
So what is the problem? Certainly not the Arabian horse, one of the oldest most beautiful breeds. Immortalized in portraits with Napoleon, the prize of bedu and cowboys alike, the founding sire of today's racing Thoroughbreds.
The mystery seems to deepen with every answer--unless you are familiar with Saudi Arabia. And therein lies the otherwise unfathomable answer.
It is a part of the world I am indeed familair with. I filmed my three hour series for PBS there in 1980 "Saudi Arabia" which had one of the largest audiences ever recorded for a PBS public affairs series. This was followed by the Emmy Nominated series "The Oil KIngdoms" next the controvrsial "Days of Rage" then the art history film "Islam:A Civilzation and Its Art." I calculated once that I had spentas much time filming the region as I had at the university here where I graduated and now sit on the Board.
The answer, the dilemma lies in Saudi Arabia and the extraordinarily convoluted transition they are enmeshed in. Shooting the horses is fine with them, it is almost everyone they show up with that triggers alarm.
One of the hottest buttons in this transition is women--what they can and cannot do. It may come as a surprise to people here that there are Saudi female endurance racers and show jumpers who are top competitors and you will see them in action in the film. This is at the same time the UN report basically deplores the lack of human rights for women. Which is also at the same time that the King's firebrand daughter Princess Adela campaigns for women's rights. This sounds contradictory and confused. It is. In the same week I was asked to please not film the women riders, I was asked to please include in the film. The bottom line is that the women you see in the film are groundbreakers and are being watched by the establishment with much trepidation. Women have come a long way in Saudi Arabia since 1980 when I first filmed there. At that time they were largely confined to home, didn't work or attend college. Now many do within limits. But they've still got a long way to go to freedom and every step out of the box sends tremors through the hierarchy.
Foreign workers are another hot button. I filmed King Abdullah's farm where he has some of the most beautiful Arabian horses in the world. An Irish vet is in charge, the head trainer is a Brit. And the Saudis wish it were not so. We shot the trainer giving an excellent display of the horses. And then were asked to please pitch it out. That these positions are filled by foreign workers is a fact they prefer to sweep under the carpet. (The vet and the trainer stayed in the film.)
Which brings us to the media. They are aware that the rest of the world is appalled at the idea of government issuing orders about what can be shown or said. But they can't quite get away from it. It is certainly better than it used to be when foreign journalists weren't allowed in and the local ones simply carried out orders. But the concept has a ways to go before we'd call it exactly entrenched in the national psyche.
Hopefully you will get to see the film broadcast, not simply on dvd.You wll see some spectacular riders and horses and along with them some people and a society in a very nervous transition that is the relaity of Saudi Arabia today.
*********
Jo Franklin, President of SeaCastle Films, is an award winning filmmaker and frequent university lecturer on the MidEast. www.arabianhorsedvd.com
Media Contact: Jo Franklin, 310/289-4403, email seacastlefilm@aol.com