Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University intends to open the first bachelor's degree in cinema and theater at a Saudi university next year.
Prince Saad bin Saud bin Mohammed Al-Saud, dean of the College of Media and Communication, said that this decision was exceptional due to its direct impact on the film and theater industry and was in line with the customs and culture of Saudi Arabia.
Prince Saad told Arab News that the IMSIU College of Media and Communication was one of the largest colleges in the Kingdom and the latest in opening new media departments and serving new specializations in this field. Several years ago, the college opened departments of marketing, advertising, graphics, and multimedia in addition to traditional departments such as journalism, radio and television, and public relations.
According to him, obtaining a degree in cinema and theater was the newest program to be launched, which addressed the Kingdom's Vision 2030 regarding quality of life, the importance of entertainment and art, and investment in them.
Prince Saad said that, according to the latest statistics, Saudi Arabia had entered the top 15 countries in the world in terms of film revenues and was the first in the Middle East to profit in the field of cinema. He characterized the cinema market in the Kingdom as promising and very important for achieving economic goals — it is expected to generate profits in the billions of Saudi riyals and create thousands of jobs for Saudi men and women.
This huge market was incompatible with the academic measures and infrastructure in Saudi universities, so the College of Media and Communication mobilized to institutionalize this important academic and economic field.
«In this regard, we moved to training, qualifying, and graduating qualified personnel to work in these positions with a special national qualification in this raw field,» he said.
Prince Saad said that in the process of creation, the most important Saudi, Arab, and international experts were hired. One of the most important arbiters in this program is Andres Vicente Gomez, a Spanish film producer and author of many international films, including «Born a King.» Prince Saad added that the program was drafted and prepared in accordance with the most modern curricula and that the best scholars in Saudi Arabia would work on it, noting that some of them studied cinema at the most prestigious American and European universities and presented their films in Hollywood.
«We are a cultural country, open to the world, and we receive American, Arab, Turkish, and Korean programs and films that are not compatible with our customs and culture, emphasizing that we have cultural specificities that distinguish us from others, which pushed us to shed light on our vision for a program that deals with directing, filming, and screenwriting,» he said.
«This is how we move forward to create a culture of awareness that corresponds to these specificities, in order to create a Saudi film by the hands of Saudi personnel who express us, our culture, aspirations, heritage, and identity, and export all of that to the whole world, to serve Saudi Arabia's soft power abroad and utilize cultural influence.».
Prince Saad said that some people are allergic to the word «cinema,» a synonym for «film,» meaning a live or kinetic image. Instead of obtaining materials and films from abroad that are culturally incompatible, they could be replaced with content through which virtues, values, principles, and morals are spread.
The path of cinema did not contradict the values of conservatism, he said, but rather protected and represented them in a model that served society, pointing out that IMSIU at its founding was based on Sharia, religious sciences, and the Arabic language, which are disciplines that «we are proud of.» However, people began to view IMSIU as a prestigious multidisciplinary university encompassing all fields of specialization, including medicine, natural sciences, engineering, public administration, and computer science.
Prince Saad said that a cinematographer's degree at IMSIU would be better than at any other university, since its students are better prepared with regard to the ideals, morals, and principles of the Islamic religion and are more in touch with religious sciences than other students. Consequently, this better prepared them to serve religion and society, which would contribute to the production of historical and cultural programs and films worthy of the film industry.
«As soon as the college announced the establishment of the Department of Cinema and Theater, the first applicants appeared for the upcoming academic year,» he said.
Prince Saad added that he expects a significant positive impact of this industry on «our Saudi heritage and culture.».