The Blog
Exactly a year after meeting some of the crew members of THE SQUARE on their way back from receiving last-year's Sundance Audience Award, I finally managed to see the film last night at the Cinema Village. The screening was hosted by an NGO called WITNESS which trains civil rights activists around the world to use cameras and record the issues they are fighting to resolve. The connection with the film was that one of the characters was part of their peer training network.
Jehane Noujaim’s film really deserves all the recognition it received during the last year including its recent Oscar nomination. It's a true behind-the-scenes doc about the people of Tahir Square and the ongoing battle for justice on the streets of Cairo which is so difficult to understand from the news stories we hear. It touches upon the importance of independent media and the ways the biggest civil disobedience movement of our time was organized. Several characters are in the spotlight, including British-Egyptian actor and star of The Kite Runner Khalid Abdalla and an activist from the Muslim Brotherhood which I found most interesting.
The film is now on Netflix and according to the project website you can organize a local screeing of the film so for all my activist friends - check it out and make sure more people see it!
I'm also quite proud to say that two of the people involved actively in the film - Muhammed Hamdy (co-producer and lead cinematographer) and Alexandra Johnes (executive and co-producer) are part of my Documentary Film Program at NYFA. Hamdy graduated a year before me and Ali is one of my producing professors so keeping my fingers tightly crossed for the Oscars!
