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Back to the Square

Back to the Square

Five Stories from the Egyptian revolution

A year after the euphoria on Tahrir Square, the demonstrators’ goals have not even come close to being reached. The country is ruled with an iron fist and there is still no democracy. The ‘eye of the world’ has moved elsewhere. How things have been in Egypt since 25 January 2011 is explained using five portraits of people from various walks of life.

What have the sacrifices on Tahrir Square at the start of 2011 yielded?  Unfortunately not a great deal, that much is apparent from the stories of five Egyptians involved, about six months after the historic revolution. A young horse herdsman tells how he drove to the square to ask for the pyramids to be opened again; he only just managed to survive that day. A taxi driver talks about his six years in prison, the torture, and how the police now behaves worse than ever. A young woman talks about intimidations and unjust arrests, which according to human rights lawyers are happening continuously. The young Salwa describes how she met her first love during the demonstrations. And then the brother of Michael Nabil: a blogger who was arrested because of his Internet comments and is now on hunger strike - he is followed on Tahrir Square during the protests that still continue against the ongoing violations of human rights.


Technical Specifications

Year 2012
Length 83 min
Director Petr Lom
Producer Torstein Grude
Language Arabic
Production companies Piraya Film, Lom Films
Production countries Norway, Canada
Sales/Distribution International Sales: Kudos Family / Festival Distribution: The Norwegian Film Institute
World Premiere International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012
IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2210449/


Gallery


Awards

Millenium Docs Against Gravity Festival, Amnesty International Award 2012 - best documentary
Honorable Mention, Documentary Competition, The Norwegian Short Film Festival 2012
Grand Jury Award, Guam International Film Festival 2012
Jury Prize, Hong Kong Film Festival 2012

Festivals

2012
International Film Festival Rotterdam
One World - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Prague
Hong Kong International Film Festival
Movies That Matter
Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt International
Middle East Now Film Festival
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
DOK.fest - München International Documentary Film Festival
DocAviv, Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival
Planete+ Doc Film Festival
One World in Brussels
The Norwegian Short Film Festival
Ismailia International Festival for Documentary & Short Films
DokuFest - International Documentary and Short Film Festival Kosovo
Golden Apricot - Yerevan International Film Festival
Motovun Film Festival
Tri Continental Film Festival
Batumi Film Festival
KAPITTEL Stavanger International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech
Nordisk Panorama - 5 Cities Festival, Oulu
One World Kyrgyzstan
Erasmus Documentary Film Festival
Guam International Film Festival
Asiatica Filmmediale - Incontri Con Il Cinema Asiatico
Antenna Documentary Festival
Astra Film Festival
Inconvenient Films - Vilnius International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival
Festival des Libertés
CPH:DOX
Leeds International Film Festival
Aarhus Film Festival
Literature in Autumn
Reel Awareness - Amnesty International Human Rights Film Festival, Toronto
International Human Rights Film Festival This Human World
Mostra de Cinema Oriente Médio
One World Human Rights International Documentary Film Festival, Prishtina
Paris International Human Rights Film Festival

2013
!f Istanbul
Documentary Fortnight: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film, New York
Keswick Film Festival
Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival
CMU International Film Festival
Docudays UA - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival
Addis International Film Festival
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival


Credits

An immense gratitude to the characters in our film:
Wally Ragab
Mohamed Ragab
Sayyd Sayyd
Lamiz Ragab
Salwa El-Hossini
Mark Nabil
Maikel Nabil
Nabil Sanad

Director and Camera
Petr Lom

Writers
Torstein Grude
Petr Lom

Producer
Torstein Grude

Editor
Petr Lom
Erik Andersson

Consulting Editors
Jean Tsien
Nathaniel Dorsky
Menno Boerema

Assistant Director
Omar Elhamy

2nd Assistant Director and Translator
Yara Saeed

Color Grading
Tom Christer Lilletvedt / Hinterland AS

Digital Effects
Christopher Hove / Hinterland AS

Post Production IT Engineer
Odd Brandtzægg

Sound Edit and Mix
Jeroen Goeijers

Co-producer
Petr Lom

Associate Producer
Bjarte Mørner Tveit

Office Manager
Oddleiv Vik

Production Assistants
Karina Lavik
Nick Hegreberg

Insurance
Lyberg og Partnere

Accounting
Vassdal Eriksen AS

Poster Design
Brat  Ljatifi

Newsclips courtesy of
ABC News
TV-Novosti (RT)
CNN

Special Thanks
Corinne van Egeraat
Randi Schulz

 Thank you
Mahmoud Abdel Fatah
Ahmed Ahmed
Farrag Ali
Farrag Awad
Ghazala Awad
Rasha Azab
Karim Amer
Hebba Bakri
Nadia Eid
Dr. Mohamed El Baradei
Aida El Baradei
Pernille Bech Christensen
Emad el Dafrawi
Ori Dasberg
Aliaa El Mahdy
Naguib El Masry
Dr. Mohamed Emad
Ramy Essam
Ahmad Ezzat
Samah Fakharani
Ganzeer
Jaron Gilinsky
Nasr Gouda
Luc Martin-Gousset
Dr. Mona El Hamed
Mohamed Hassan
Nora Hoppe
Ahmed Hosny
Saeed Ibrahim
Tomas Lom
Sahar Maher
Samira Ibrahim
Bothaina Kamel
Niel van der Linden
Maged Maher
David Maher
Mohamed Mahmoud
Montasar Marai
Tariq Marzbaan
Heba Morayef
Ahmed Namatalla
Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen
Shady El Noshokaty
Ahmed Osman
Walid Ragab
Nour Rawzy
Max Rodenbeck
Jan Rofekamp
Eslam Saad
Mona Saif
Nadine Saleb
Magdi Saman
Ahmed Samir
Mohamed Samir
Ahmed El Sandioni
Naglaa Sayyd
Dr. Essam Shabana
Abdel-Rahman El Sharqawi
Mohamed El Sharqawi
Mohamed Siam
Gail Silva
Bahaa Talis
Asmaa Al Zohairy
Egil & Ellinor Grude
Ola Hunnes

 

Produced With Support From

Norwegian Film Institute  - Stig Andersen

The Freedom of Expression Foundation – Bente Roalsvig

Filmkraft Rogaland AS – Kirsten Bonnén Rask

Stavanger Council Cultural Fund

The Matriarch Foundation – Bjarte Mørner Tveit

Piraya Film AS – Torstein Grude

Lom Films – Petr Lom

 

20©12 Piraya Film AS and Lom Films