British actress, Adele James, said that she feels sad about those who feel threatened by black people, in her comment on the strong criticism that came out against her movie about the Egyptian Queen “Cleopatra”.
James said, during her appearance on the program “The Wayne Ayres PodcastOn the Apple Podcasts app, she says she has faced tough criticism, “It’s sad that some Egyptians or other people do this… They either hate themselves or feel so threatened by black people that they make such criticisms, and try to separate Egypt from the rest of the continent.” .
The actress also criticized the accusations against the film of embodying a character who was originally white by a black actress, which Egyptian official statements described as a falsification of history.
James added that the makers of the film, which is being produced by the “Netflix” network, wanted to show in the work what people do not understand about Cleopatra, “and not depict her as just a place of conflict between males.”
“I think people should realize her intelligence, how she spoke more than 5 languages, and how she was a great politician,” she added.
She added, “The most important thing is that we tell the story of Cleopatra, and the answer to the question about her race has many question marks.”
James received harsh criticism, some of which was racist, and went beyond the issue of criticizing her choice as a black actress in a documentary work to play the role of Queen Cleopatra, which many historians indicate is of Greek origin.
In the wake of the controversy over the film, Egyptian channels and Egyptologists announced the production of “documentary films” dealing with the life of Cleopatra VII.
On Tuesday, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced his project for a 90-minute documentary about Queen Cleopatra.
“I am happy to announce this project,” he said in a post on his Facebook account. “You can watch my 90-minute documentary about Cleopatra.”
While the head of the Egyptian Documentary Channel, director Sherif Saeed, revealed another movie about Cleopatra, he told Al-Hurra that it is in the “research stage” and there are committees and specialists working on it.
After “Netflix” announced its movie… Egyptian documentaries about Queen Cleopatra
Egyptian channels and Egyptologists announced the production of “documentary films” dealing with the life of Cleopatra VII, after the “Netflix” network announced that it would show a film showing the queen with black skin.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Egypt issued a statement in which the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, confirmed that “Cleopatra was light in color with Greek features,” adding that “her statues are the best evidence of her true features and her Macedonian origins.”
The statement explained, “Many of Queen Cleopatra’s antiquities, including statues and depictions on coins, confirm her true shape and features, all of which show Greek features in terms of light skin.”
Cleopatra VII was the last king of the Macedonian family, which ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, until the Roman occupation of Egypt in 30 BC, which witnessed her death by suicide.
Cleopatra was born in 69 BC, and her father is King Ptolemy XII, and she assumed power after his death in 51 BC, sharing the throne with her brother Ptolemy XIII.
