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Egyptian Artists Continue to Produce Thrilling Art Despite Increased Censorship

The arts and culture scene in Egypt has been Oxygenating the freedom of expression discoursedespite battling against repression and government censorship.

In recent years, creative works of artstarting from music productions, television series or filmshave faced many legal consequences suffocating the creative process.

The independent Egyptian rock band Cairokee was set to launch their latest albumNotaa Bedaor A Drop of White. However, on 2 July, Cairokee announced that the General Authority for Censorship of works of art rejected a number of songs and prevented the distribution of the album in the market.

18 Days is an Egyptian film focusing on the 18 days of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and has been banned to be aired in Egypt since then. The film combined glossary of directors, sound engineers and editors among others to produce a film with many Egyptian artists on voluntary basis.

On 4 July, the film has been leaked on the internet allowing people to view it after many years of unjustified ban.

While Ramadan television series represent a great opportunity for artists to show off their best talents, clever scripts, thrilling events and smart directing, lawsuits remain an annual obstacle that impose censorship restrictions on Ramadan biggest hits.

This year, Ramadan seriesLa Totfe El Shams,or Dont let the Sun Set, faced a lawsuit on claims of offending the president. The lawsuit cameafter airing episode number 14 was aired showing a graffiti on a wall that says Sisi the traitor.

The Association from Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) and The World Forum on Music and Censorship (FREEMUSE) have conducted a study called Censors of Creativity that explores case studies of artistic censorship tracing legal cases from courts, local news and international conventions.

Article 1 of the law [38/1992]states that the objective of the censorship of cinema, theater, musical works, and the performing arts is to protect the public order, public morals, and the higher interests of the state, stated in the study.

However, the effects of art censorship or unjustified restrictions of the right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity are devastating,according to researchers in the study.

Historically, contemporary arthas beenapowerful and impactfulway to address pressing political and social issues. Egyptian artists continue to work around the oppression and censorship in Egypt.

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Egyptian Artists Continue to Produce Thrilling Art Despite Increased Censorship - Egyptian Streets

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Infernoby Jung Yoon-Suk (image courtesy M-Line Distribution)

The Last Waltz, Martin Scorseses quintessential concert film chronicling the last show of the 70s rock group The Band, begins with text declaring across the screen: This film should be played loud. In the decades following the 1976 classic, this advice found its way into the beginning of countless music films. Most recently, the spirit of the message traveled across the globe to South Korea in Jung Yoon-Suks documentary Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno (2017), the story of the college punk duo Bamseom Pirates and their struggles with government censorship. But the onscreen statement near the beginning of Jungs film skews in a more political direction, notifying the viewer, The sounds of the film were left unbalanced to help you experience the imbalances in Korean society. In the background, we hear the Pirates aggressive, discordant music.

As a bellwether of whats to come, the statement works twofold. First, it prepares the viewer for an on-the-ground look at the politics and class conflicts of contemporary South Korea. Second, like the rest of the movie, it presents an endlessly compelling subject in a clodding, inelegant manner.

The film, which is playing at the New York Asian Film Festival at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, revolves around the arrest of the bands producer and manager Park Junggeun. He is said to have violated the countrys nebulous National Security Laws after posting tweets that were seen as praising the enemy. These tweets, including Dear leader, please buy me some chocolate and Kim Jong-Il is Car Sex, show how vague and easily manipulable the laws are. The messages are shared on-screen in front of images of Park dressed in costumes goofing off with friends, making it even clearer that Park is joking. However, South Korean culture seems to treat any expression of dissent comical or not as aiding the enemy.

Watching the Pirates at work is a riveting experience. Sarcasm and irony infuse everything they do especially their lyrics. In some songs, they seemingly, wholeheartedly endorse North Korean Communists, with choruses like All Hail Kim Jong-Il! But we recognize this stance is a farce in moments where the band discusses its almost nonexistent politics. Having spent his young life firmly on the south side of the DMZ, the drummer of the band, Kwon Yung-man, admits at one point, Honestly I know almost nothing about North Korea. The musicians scream slogans praising their countrys enemies just to provoke the powers that be.

Despite efforts to mirror the bands slapdash aesthetic, the film unfortunately follows a fairly consistent formal structure that keeps it from being engaging. A protest ensues around the privatization of Seoul University and a Korea-US free trade agreement. Then the band Yung-man and bassist Jang Sung-geon performs at the protest, offering a set of their signature punk/metal fusion and nonsense banter. The handheld cinematography that fills most of the film is a visually unspectacular means of chronicling these happenings, and Kwons tendency to tell the camera exactly what the band is doing instead of simply showing it drags the story on.

More interesting is Jungs repurposing of newscasts that intrude on the bands story, giving cultural context for the society that yielded the Pirates. A story about a 1994 meeting between North and South Korean officials, where the Communist representative warns that his country can turn their countries into an inferno if provoked, offers context for the tense political climate on both sides of the DMZ; this anecdote also explains the origins for the name of the Pirates debut album Seoul Inferno, which is excerpted throughout the film. Later in the film, as Park is on-trial, Jung appropriates propaganda from the era, where in a staged conversation two men and two women discuss their thoughts on war with the north. One of them declares, If certain elements within the South cause turmoil when the North attacks, they will pay dearly for their mistakes. Jungs appropriation of this footage paints a vivid portrait of the social consensus allowing the crackdown on Park, which ends in a 10-month jail sentence and two years probation.

Following the delivery of the verdict, however, Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno fails to end on a note acknowledging this very emotional moment. The viewer is treated to shots of the pirates riding in cars through the city at night, a middle-aged man asleep on public transportation, and cats, as well as scenes of the band recording screams, moans, claps, belches, and the whir of power tools. The film suffers for not making a final statement regarding the censorship imposed on artists in South Korea. The fault lies with the filmmaker and not the artists, whose dadaist sensibilities are the reason to watch this documentary.

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Infernois playingat the New York Asian Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center (165 W 65th St, Upper West Side, Manhattan) on Tuesday, July 11.

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A Korean Punk Band's Struggles with Censorship - Hyperallergic

The Bolshoi Ballet has denied bowing to a controversial Russian law banning "homosexual propaganda" after it cancelled a new production about Rudolf Nureyev three days before the premiere.

The long-anticipated production had been due to open on Tuesday but was called off at the weekend amid speculation that authorities had balked at its depiction of Nureyev's love life.

Vladimir Urin, the theater's director general, said on Monday that he had cancelled the ballet about the Soviet dancer-turned-defector because rehearsals showed it was not ready.

"The ballet was not good," he said, saying it had been postponed rather than cancelled and would open in May next year instead.

Earlier the Tass news agency cited a culture ministry source saying Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's minister of culture, cancelled the production because he feared it broke a controversial law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors.

Mr Medinsky's ministry confirmed he had spoken to the director, but denied issuing a "ban."

"Yes there was a long conversation with Urin," Irina Kaznacheeva, a spokeswoman for the culture ministry said in a statement. "But a ban is the not the ministry's working style."

Rudolf Nuryev was one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of his generation. In 1961 he became was one of the first acclaimed Soviet artists to defect to the West, where he had successfulcareer - and a turbulent love life including a string of gay relationships - until his death in 1993.

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Bolshoi Ballet denies bowing to censorship over canceled Rudolf Nureyev show - Telegraph.co.uk

China's crackdown on livestreaming is really just the tip of the censorship iceberg Mashable In a show of strength, in anticipation of a huge political event, China is cracking down hard on the one thing it hasn't been able to control livestreaming. With 731 million internet users in China of which 300 million have used livestreaming ...

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China's crackdown on livestreaming is really just the tip of the censorship iceberg - Mashable

Startup of the week:

Who they are:IranCubator

What they do:Its atech incubator that producesapps focused on achieving social change in Iran, backed by Berkeley-based nonprofitUnited for Iran.

Why its cool:Launchedthree years ago, IranCubator matches activists with app developers to create technology that can change the lives of Iranian citizens. The program has launched a series of apps in recent months, including womens health appHamdam. Geared toward women who dont have access to sexual health resources women from conservative families or from rural areas, for example Hamdam provides information on sexually transmitted diseases and contraception, and also offers the only Persian menstruation calendar, according to United for Iran founder and executive director Firuzeh Mahmoudi. And Hamdam offers resources to help women who often arent granted the same legal protections as men answer questions on marriage law, divorce, employment and more.

Another IranCubator app,RadiTo, lets Iranians listen to news programs blocked by the government, such as BBC Persian, as well as audio books and talk shows. Thats crucial in a country that has a reputation as being one of the worlds most restrictive regimes when it comes to accessing information Reporters Without Borders this year ranked Iran 165th out of 180 countries initsWorld Press Freedom Index.

IranCubator also released an appcalled Haami thats geared toward Irans 2.2 million drug users offeringrecovery resources including Narcotics Anonymous information translated into Persian and a personal safety app calledToranjthat helps women defend against domestic violence.

To learn more visitUnited4Iran.org.

Where they stand:Womens health appHamdam, the incubators most popular app, has been downloaded more than 70,000 times since its launch in March.

Only in Silicon Valley:

Bummed out by shoes that dont fit?Iovadopromises to fix that problem by combining Silicon Valley technologywithItalian fashion. Customers use the companys app to take 10 pictures of their foot, which Iovado converts into a 3D model. That model is then sent to leather workers in Italy who use it to make a pair of handcrafted shoes built exactly to your specifications. The whole process costs 240 Euros, or about $274.

Iovado had raised almost $65,000 on Kickstarter as of Thursday, surpassing its goal of $22,678.

Run the numbers:

When considering whether to invest in a startup, venture capitalists question female founders differently than male founders, according to a recentstudypublished in the Harvard Business Review. Investors are more likely to ask men about their potential for gains, and women about their potential for losses, according to researchers from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, who analyzed interactions between 140 VCs and 189 entrepreneurs at TechCrunch Disrupt New York.

Sixty-seven percent of questions posed to male founders had to do with promotion focusing on hopes, achievements, advancement and ideals, according to the study. On the other hand, 66 percent of questions asked of female founders had to do with prevention they focused on safety, responsibility, security and vigilance. For example, VCs were more likely to ask men how they will acquire new customers, and ask women how they will prevent current customers from leaving.

Those lines of questioning make a difference, the researchers argue. The male-led startups they studied raised five times more funding than those led by women.

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Following a string of female startup founders who have spoken out aboutsexual harassmentthey faced frommale investors, entrepreneur Perri Chase this week addressedthe more subtle nuances of the investor/founder relationship. In a blog post titled I had sex with an investor & I am sorry, Chase described a meeting over drinks with an angel investor she hoped would back her startup. Whenhe started hitting on her, Chase wrote, it became clear that he hadnt intended theinteraction to be a pitch meeting. She says she made a consensual choice to reciprocate his advances.

In all that has been emerging this week it dawned on me that I gave him permission to act this way, Chase wrote. My sleeping with him is actually part of the problem.

But its complicated, Chase wrote, adding that in a world where its common to meet investors over happy hour, the line between professional and social interactions can become blurred, and clarifying it needs to become a priority.

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Early Stage: Apps to fight censorship, drug addiction and sexism in Iran - The Mercury News