The Forgotten Village"In 2006, Saudi cinema was brought to the fore when two feature films, namely ‘Dhilal al Samt’ [Shadow of Silence] and ‘Keif al Haal’ [How are you?] were released, both raising controversy amongst film critics and the public. Today, however, a new feature film, entitled ‘The Forgotten Village’ [Qariyat al Mansiya] that has been released in Egypt, will bring Saudi cinema back into the limelight.
"‘The Forgotten Village’ is a horror film based on the novel by Tarik al Dakhiel and directed by Abdullah Abo Talib. It features Mohammed Hashim, Hamed al Ghamdi, Baraa Alaf and Egyptian media figure, Shaymaa al Fadal in addition to other young stars from France, Canada and America.
"The plot of the film is based on group of young Arabs who meet some foreign tourists and forced by circumstance to stay in an isolated village, the residents of which believe that it is haunted by spirits and evil beings that appear only at night. The film looks at the phenomena of superstition and mythology amongst the people of the Gulf. [...]
"So why produce a horror film? Abo Talib highlighted that he is fully aware that Egyptian cinema is famous for its comedies that are very popular in Egypt and the Arab world. For this reason, Abo Talib wanted to test the waters and try something that not many others [in the region] had tried before him, because he wants commercial success for his film as well as critical acclaim. [...]"
Source: Asharq Al Awsat (Saudi owned, based in London), September 6 , 2007
