• Arts
  • September 13, 2006
  • 4 minutes read

Film on Al Banna Clears First Hurdle

Egypt’s cinema watchdog has given initial approval to the proposal to make a film on the life of Hasan al-Banna, the founder and ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood.


“A representative of the Muslim Brotherhood asked us for an opinion on the project and we limited our discussion to the idea in principle,” the head of the committee, Abu Shahada, told the independent daily al-Masri al-Yom.


“We concluded that we would be in favour provided the film did not expound the theories espoused in many books by Islamist authors who allege that al-Banna was killed by Egyptian secret service agents,” he said.

The film will trace the childhood of al-Banna, who grew up in a village in the Nile Delta, to the creation of the Brotherhood in 1928 and the subsequent clashes with police, up until his death in 1949 in circumstance that are still unclear” explained Ahmed Seif Hasan Banna Al Islam, the son of the ideologue. It will include scenes of al-Banna taking part in demonstrations in 1919 against British occupation.

“My father was a man prepared for dialogue with everyone, Jews, Christians and agnostics” said al-Islam. “It is important that the film shows this aspect. We want the US and Europe to see it so that they understand him better and know the whole truth about the Muslim Brotherhood and their beliefs,” he added. The organisation is banned but tolerated in Egypt.