Cinema Barbie, withdrawn from Algerian cinemas for "attack on morality"

The American film Barbie, by director Greta Gerwig, was withdrawn this Monday from Algerian cinemas despite having been released on July 21, without an official statement from the authorities, which has aroused criticism about a new episode of censorship.

According to the digital newspaper 24H Algérie, the Ministry of Culture sent a circular this Sunday to the distributor MD Ciné, as well as to the theaters of Algiers, Constantine and Oran for their immediate withdrawal for “attacking (religious) morality”, although until the So far it has not been publicly pronounced.

Among those affected by this decision is the Garden City TMV multi-screen, which today inaugurates its facilities in the capital, and which deprogrammed the tape of its billboard this week to replace it with other foreign titles such as the successful “Oppenheimer”.

This, unlike “Barbie”, contains scenes of sex and nudes, for which Internet users have questioned the reasons for the veto.

Algeria thus follows in the footsteps of other countries in the region such as Kuwait and also Lebanon, which argued that this blockbuster “promotes homosexuality” and encourages the idea of ??”refusing custody of the father, belittling the role of the mother and ridiculing it, questioning the need for marriage and to form a family”.

In just three weeks, nearly 400,000 spectators have been able to attend its screening, starring in unusual waiting lines in the North African country, where most of the movie theaters have disappeared and today only twenty remain, compared to 450 that existed before its independence in 1962.

In recent years, professionals have denounced the precariousness of the national sector, especially with the withdrawal of public subsidies at the end of 2021 after the dissolution of the Development Funds for Art, Technology and the Cinematographic Industry (Ftadic), which has blocked numerous projects.

Last Friday the Audiovisual Regulation Authority (Arav) announced the temporary suspension of the new private television channel Essalam TV, after showing a foreign film with scenes “contrary to the precepts of Islam and the customs of society.”

Shortly after, the channel apologized for the “inadvertent mistake” and explained that it had sanctioned the person responsible. In November, El Adjawaa TV – which broadcasts from the UK – was shut down for good for broadcasting “immoral” images.