“Apheia 2053”: Animated film shaking Saudi Arabia

Apheia 2053, an animated art film in Arabic set in a grim future, appealed to people in a region where autocratic and blood rule, bloody resistance is well known.

Launched on YouTube on March 21st, ten years after the Arab Spring uprisings, this 60-minute Lebanese drill already has more than eight million hits, the AFP writes.

“It's proof that this film reflects people's thoughts”, says Rabbi Seidan of Lebanon, the creator and executive producer of this film.

Everyone looks at it from their perspective and sees themselves and their communities on it,” added Seidan.

Situated in 2053, in the imaginary Arab state of Alepia, the film follows a group of secret agents plotting to overthrow the inherited ruler Ala Ibn Ismaili and his oppressive regime, described as the most tyrannical in the world.

Through a carefully designed operation led by operatives who have infiltrated the government's highest degrees, “resistance” manages to bring down the dictator in a coup and end a century of despotic rule.

They are cheered by the mass of people who go out on the streets, cheering the now famous Arab Spring slogan “people demand the fall of the” regime ahead of the heavily armed security forces that respond with fire.

The film ends with a familiar scene: a degree of euphoria brings down a statue of a leader fallen with the help of ropes.

Sushedan says that Alephilia 2053, with the extremely famous personality of a dictator, is “a fictional film but is based on reality, is a description of social reality”.

It is not inspired by an Arab state, but represents conditions known to many people worldwide, he says.

The world has become a small village, where the situation is the same in more than one place,” said Seidan. “Alephia could be the 23rd place in the Arab League”, which has 22 members.

Although this film primarily reminds you of the rebellions of 2011, Sushedan says it is an attempt to break, as he calls it, a mania with the past

There is a tendency in the Arab world to imagine what may have happened in the past, but there is no drama or film work that you imagine would be the Arab world in the future,” says Seidan. “Ide for the film came from the question: What will the Arab world look like in 20 or 30 years?

According to Sheidan's vision, the future is promising.

“The situation cannot always remain dark,” he added. “This film tries to imagine a future not as bad as the past or present. ”