Media Literacy's Exclusive Interview
Hussein Ayman
How big of a problem do you think film piracy is in Egypt? We didn’t know either; everything in Egypt has its own repercussions that are sometimes different from any country. Many crimes have serious punishments, and even bigger crimes are left to slide. This is why we sat down with Mr. Hussein Ayman, manager of Galaxy Movie Theater in Mall of Arabia; to learn the full extent of film piracy in Egypt.
Interviewer:
Mr. Hussein, how are you sir? Great to have you today.
Mr. Hussein:
Thank you, how do you do?
Interviewer:
So first of all I want to ask you: have you ever had any instances of attempted or complete movie piracy from your theater?
Mr. Hussein:
We have had instances in which people tried to cam-cord movies, other instances in which the movie itself was on the verge of getting stolen.
Interviewer:
Can you tell us about one of these occasions?
Mr. Hussein:
A man was once attending an Arabic film and the camcorder in his hand was very obvious… As soon as he aroused suspicion
we let him continue what he was doing to make sure he is actually attempting to record the movie. We let him continue for 50 or 60 minutes just to make sure about “the intentions” for his recording. Once we were sure about what he was doing, we apprehended him and confiscated his recording device, then turned him in to the police station.
Interviewer:
Do you know if there’s a legal penalty for movie piracy in Egypt? Is it implemented?
Mr. Hussein:
Of course there is, it states in the beginning of both Arabic and foreign films that attempting to replicate this movie is a violation of creative property. I believe the penalty itself is a few months in prison or a moderately hefty fine. As for its implementation, I believe the current situation in Egypt does not allow for the correct application of such laws, because the police have larger fish to fry. But we do our job regardless.