{"id":36652,"date":"2026-01-19T00:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=36652"},"modified":"2026-01-19T00:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:04:16","slug":"libyan-filmmaker-fights-for-cinema-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=36652","title":{"rendered":"Libyan filmmaker fights for cinema revival"},"content":{"rendered":"
Mouayed Zabtia shoots most scenes for his latest movie in a studio he built at his Tripoli home. For the filmmaker, it is one way to overcome the obstacles he faces in a country where cinema once nearly vanished.<\/p>\n

Before a 1969 coup that brought Moamer Kadhafi to power, Libya’s capital Tripoli was home to more than 20 movie theatres.<\/p>\n

“Today we have none,” Zabtia told AFP.<\/p>\n

Kadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011, and though the censorship of his era has declined, its effects are still deeply felt through underinvestment and public disinterest.<\/p>\n

“You have to go abroad to see films in a movie theatre,” said Mohammed Rizk, an actor in Zabtia’s current project, which is set in 1980s Libya when a younger generation yearned for freedom under Kadhafi.<\/p>\n

Under the longtime ruler, cinema was viewed as a tool of foreign cultural invasion, and only movies aligned with the state were funded and promoted.<\/p>\n

Movie theatres were seen as spaces for gatherings that were difficult to control.<\/p>\n

‘Disinterest’<\/p>\n

Many like 47-year-old Zabtia believed that after Kadhafi’s fall, cinema would be resurrected, but the instability that ensued has delayed any revival.<\/p>\n

“The problem is disinterest from all governments since 2011,” Zabtia said. “We were expecting that they would help.”<\/p>\n

The filmmaker said he had funded all his productions from his own pocket, mainly with revenue from a production company he founded in 2001 to create television series and wedding videos.<\/p>\n

It was only after the 2011 revolution that he decided to take on cinema, a goal since childhood.<\/p>\n

In his dim-lit studio, Zabtia oversees everything \u2014\u00a0from lighting and sound to costumes \u2014\u00a0as a small crew bustles about making his latest picture, “1986”.<\/p>\n

Zabtia said the film is inspired by true events, including the estrangement from Libya of pioneering singer Ahmed Fakroun after Kadhafi cracked down on Western-influenced music.<\/p>\n

Today, Zabtia said, it is no longer censorship that stifles filmmaking in Libya, but an array of other challenges compounded by a lack of public support.<\/p>\n

Authorities have in recent years attempted to revive the artform through festivals and the creation of the Libyan Film Institute in 2021.<\/p>\n

No story without women<\/p>\n

Zabtia said most of his work is filmed in the studio as “filming outside in Libya is very tiring”.<\/p>\n

“We lack logistic support. You need big crews, food, drinks, help with the police for outdoor sets.”<\/p>\n

“We don’t have that experience, and people are not used to seeing these kinds of cameras in the street.”<\/p>\n

Added to that, some Libyans feel cinema clashes with their moral values, he added.<\/p>\n

Portraying women on screen is particularly difficult, Zabtia said, although he insisted it was “impossible to make a film without women when it comes to telling a story.”<\/p>\n

“We have many hidden female talents who are afraid to come forward.”<\/p>\n

Yet the director believes one solution to these social obstacles is cinema itself: “The role of cinema \u2014\u00a0our role \u2014\u00a0is to pinpoint issues and try to address them.”<\/p>\n

Despite the obstacles, a handful of Libyan films have crossed borders.<\/p>\n

“Freedom Fields”, a documentary by Libyan-British director Naziha Arebi about three women footballers, was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.<\/p>\n

In 2023, “Donga”, a film by Muhannad Lamin about the 2011 uprising, was shown at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

While “cinema doesn’t really have a market in Libya”, Zabtia hopes the lack of interest will translate into an opportunity to stand out and establish a niche \u2014\u00a0particularly with platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n

“We want to develop and highlight Libyan work, talent and skills,” he said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mouayed Zabtia shoots most scenes for his latest movie in a studio he built at his Tripoli home. For the filmmaker, it is one way to overcome the obstacles he faces in a country where cinema once nearly vanished. Before a 1969 coup that brought Moamer Kadhafi to power, Libya’s capital Tripoli was home to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}