Saudis movies after 30 years

After 30 years since movies are banned in Saudi, finally they will enjoy it again.
They howled, clapped and ate popcorn as a normal movie goers do scene elsewhere, but revolutionary in Saudi Arabia where films have not played in public for decades.
Massive lines snaked out from the King Abdul Aziz Cultural Centre as Jedda residents queued up to see the first film open to public after 30 years, hoping the event heralded a big change in the ultra-conservative kingdom's stunted cultural scene.
Negotiations with senior political officials and the religious police, the Red Sea port of Jeddah and the nearby city of Taif allowed the Rotana entertainment group owned by the powerful Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, to show its new comedy "Manahi" for nine days.
The result was overwhelming, the 1,200 seats hall hardly meeting the demand for the $4 tickets for each showing.
Decades ago movie lovers in Saudi Arabia would crowd into clubs and halls to watch the same movies enjoyed throughout the Arab world.
But in the past 70s', clerics of the ultra conservative Wahhabist version of Islam which is practiced in the country cracked down and banned cenemas as having a corruption influence on society.
The taboo has been broken somewhat in recent years, with videos and satellite television, and movies shown surreptitiously at night in popular coffee shops.
Putting the film in Jeddah, a progressive city compared to its capital Riyadh, took the support of Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the powerful governor of the province of Mecca, himself a poet and supporter of the Arts. To see a movie in a real theatre, Saudis still have to travel to neighboring countries to watch the movie.
The local religious Police, from the feared commision for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, inspected the hall ahead of the scheduled scrrenings to ensure that women and men would be separated, following Saudi Arabia's strict rules of segregation between the sexes.
It was an adventure to see a movie in a place where there are no real cinemas, adding that it was exciting to see tha audience's thirst for a movie.

Rower rescued off Australia after 10-month journey

An Italian adventurer who spent 10 months rowing more than 9,500 nautical miles (18,000 kilometers) across the Pacific has been rescued a mere 65 nautical miles short of his goal , after rough weather sapped him of his final shreds of energy.

Alex Bellini, who began his voyage off Peru in February, contacted his wife Friday to say he was too exhausted to row his 25-foot (7.5 meter) boat any further, despite being nearly in sight of the eastern Australian town of Laurieton.

Bellini's wife contacted authorities, and an Australian tug boat towed the 30-year-old to shore. They reached Newcastle, 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Sydney.

Although looking weary and thin and sporting a bushy beard, Bellini grinned and appeared in high spirits as he was reunited with his tearful wife, Francesca.

"I'm feeling good. I'm exhausted," Bellini told The Associated Press. "I need some time to relax."

A strong wind had hampered his efforts to get closer to shore for days. By Friday, he said, his energy was gone.

"For the next few days, the weather would have been even worse," said Bellini, who has also rowed across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

Bellini said the journey was not about breaking records; he is not the first person to row solo across the Pacific and is not yet sure whether his trip is the longest solo journey. Instead, he said, the voyage was about testing his own limits.

"The reasons of my trip was double. First of all was to cross the Pacific," Bellini said. "But the other reason of my trip was making a trip inward. So it was discovering something of myself."

Bellini used a satellite phone to keep in contact with those on land and survived on dried food and desalinated ocean water. He also used a small cooker to fry up fish and to boil water for pasta. He found himself craving sweet foods — especially tiramisu and apple cake — and was looking forward to gorging on desserts.

"It made me crazy. I want all the sweets here in Sydney," he said with a laugh.

The worst part of his journey was the loneliness and the longing he felt for his wife. But despite their 10 months apart, Bellini said it was as if no time had passed when they laid eyes on each other Saturday. The two plan to return to their home in Trieste, Italy, in about a week.

For now, Bellini has no immediate plans to return to the open ocean. He has other priorities.

"I miss my bed. I miss my home," he said. "I need to go back and settle down."

http://alexbellini.it/