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Emotional ending: Saudi Arabia lifts 35-year cinema ban by screening The Emoji Movie

Over the past year, the doors to concerts, comedy shows and women drivers have already been opened. By March this year, Saudi Arabia could get its first permanent theatre

January 16, 2018 / 05:32 PM IST

Saudi Arabia has started screening feature-length movies from Saturday in a makeshift theatre. The first movie it chose to screen is animated The Emoji Movie—a film featuring various talking emoticons reported Reuters.

This is the first time an officially sanctioned public screening of a movie took place after 35 years. Earlier, in December, on the initiative of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the ban on film screening was lifted.

Cinemas were banned in the early 1980s under pressure from Islamists as Saudi society turned towards a particularly conservative form of religion that discouraged public entertainment and public mixing between men and women.

Over the past year, the doors to concerts, comedy shows and women drivers have already been opened. By March this year, Saudi Arabia could get its first permanent theatre.

Despite that the step is indicative of declining influences of fundamental Islamic clerics, the films are censored so that they remain in line with the kingdom’s “moral values”, Reuters said.

However, there is an economic angle to the decision as well. The Saudi regime wants to lessen its dependence on oil and hence is trying to broaden the economy.

Moreover, thousands of Saudi citizens travel to nearby nations like Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other countries for entertainment. The Saudi government wishes to tap the money they spent there, by easing restrictions at home.

(With inputs from Reuters)

first published: Jan 16, 2018 05:32 pm

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