Ahmad 
The campaign to boycott the movie “The Atheist” continues on social media in Egypt, after the film’s makers announced that it will be released in Egyptian cinemas on August 14, 2024.
The film is the third by writer Ibrahim Eissa that deals with topics related to religious beliefs, after the films “Saheb El Maqam” and “Mawlana”.
The film has sparked controversy since the beginning and has become the talk of the town among social media users, as calls for a boycott have increased significantly, and many activists have expressed their dissatisfaction with the film’s content and the characters involved in its production.
Facebook users’ comments about the film were a reminder of the content they found to be contrary to religion, while others saw it as “stirring up strife” within society.
The film “The Atheist” faced a postponement of its release for several years and witnessed the withdrawal of the late artist Mustafa Darwish from participating in it after the statements of the film’s writer, media figure Ibrahim Eissa, about the “Isra and Mi’raj” incident, which he described as “imaginary”.
Upon his withdrawal, Darwish expressed his dissatisfaction with the content of the film, and announced via his official Facebook account that he would boycott any program by Ibrahim Eissa and apologized to the entire crew.
For his part, writer and journalist Ibrahim Eissa published a document revealing the censorship’s approval to show the film, and artist Ahmed Hatem, one of the film’s stars, promoted it via his personal accounts, confirming its release date in mid-August.
The film “The Atheist” is directed by Mohamed Gamal El Adl and produced by Ahmed El Sobky. It deals with issues of religious extremism and atheism and attempts to present a special view that atheism sometimes results from overthinking religious issues, and on the other hand, religious extremism leads to excommunicating society. It took about 3 years to produce the film and obtain a screening permit, according to the director’s statements.
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