A SHORT DOCUMENTARY BY NIKOLA ILIĆ & CORINA SCHWINGRUBER ILIĆ
!!!!! NEW !!!!! available online here: ZENITH.ONLINE
SYNOPSIS
ENGLISH
What’s left after the Egyptian Revolution in 2011?
Not much, except a lot of people in prison and a big disappointment. The former Chief of Army Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took over and now rules the country with an iron fist. Everyday life goes on and people in Cairo’s alleyways are trying to make the best of it.
DEUTSCH
Was ist von der ägyptischen Revolution von 2011 übrig geblieben?
Nicht viel, abgesehen von gut gefüllten Gefängnissen und einer grenzenlosen Enttäuschung bei den Menschen, die für eine kurze Zeit geglaubt hatten, Freiheit und Demokratie lägen in Reichweite. Der ehemalige Armeechef Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regiert das Land mit eiserner Faust. Der Alltag geht weiter und die Menschen in den Gassen Kairos versuchen das Beste daraus zu machen.
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
- 68° international Film Festival Locarno 2015 (CH)
- 19° Kurzfilmtage Winterthur (CH)
- Clermont-Ferrand international Short Film Festival 2016 (F)
- Mecal , Barcelona international Short & Animation Film Festival 2016 (ES)
- Skepto, international Short Film Festival 2016, Cagliari (I)
- Kyiv, international Short Film Festival 2016, Kiev (UKR)
- DOCUDAYS UA 2016, Kiev (UKR)
- Filmfest Dresden 2016 (D)
- Beogradski filmski festival / Belgrad Film Festival (RS)
- Subversive Film Festival 2016, Zagreb (HR)
- Mosaic Rooms 2016, London (UK)
- Serbian Contemporary Short & Documentary Film 2016, Washington D.C (USA)
- Capalbio international Film Fest 2016, Capalbio (I)
- MakeDox 2016, Skopje (Macedonia)
- FeKK- int. Short Film Festival Ljubljana (Slovenia)
- Arab Camera Festival 2016, Rotterdam (NL)
- Shnit- international Shortfilmfestival, Bern (CH)
- QCFF – Cinéma de la Ville de Quebec (CAN)
- Hayah Interantional Short Film Festival, Panama City (Panama)
- Bogoshorts- International Short Film Festival, Bogota (Columbia)
AWARDS
- Swiss Film Award 2016: Nomination for Best Short
CREDITS
DIRECTORS Nikola Ilić & Corina Schwingruber Ilić
CAMERA Nikola Ilić
EDITOR Corina Schwingruber Ilić
STATEMENTS INTERVIEWS Thomas Dayer
SOUND MIXING & MASTERING Aleksandar Rančić
COLOR GRADING Vladan Obradović
PROMOTION Claudia Schwingruber
PRODUCER Cortha Film
DETAILS
DURATION 10:48 min
SCREENING FORMATS HD 1920 x 1080 (mov / m4p / h264) / DCP / Blu-ray
SOUND Stereo / 5.1 Dolby
LANGUAGUE Arabic (Egyptian)
SUBTITLES English
SHOOTING LOCATION Cairo / Egypt
SHOOTING FORMAT h264 HD
DISTRIBUTION Cortha Film
BACKGROUND
Cairo in April 2014. The elections are approaching, the city is covered in posters showing the former Army Chief General al-Sisi. But when one talks to people, it’s apparent that nobody wants to go and vote anymore. Hardly anyone believes in a fair election and a democratic future of their country. People are tired and disappointed. The revolutionary enthusiasm of 2011 has disappeared and is being replaced by accusations against each other for the outcome of the revolution. Devisions are being formed. The Muslim Brotherhood, Moubarak sympathizers, the revolutionaries, army attorneys, intellectuals, religious people, spies, the poor and the rich. As never before, Egyptian people are divided.
End of May 2014. The elections are prolonged due to the embarrassingly low turnout of voters. An additional polling day, a day off work, intimidations and higher penalties should raise the numbers of voters, but the pictures of empty polling places speak for themselves. With 96.1% votes for al-Sisi and almost none for his only opponent, the final result is grotesque. International organizations criticize the voting, but former general al-Sisi is elected Egyptian’s new president.
June 2014. Everyday life continues, even with the new ruling power. But it has become more difficult. Political opponents are arrested, government critical demonstrations are forcefully ended, the media is being censored and the previous president Muhammed Mursi is sentenced to death. It seems like the Arab Spring never happened: previously powerful figures have even more power now, and the poor are even poorer.
PERSONAL APPROACH OF THE DIRECTORS
In February 2014 the filmmaker Corina Schwingruber Ilić travelled to Cairo, Egypt. Thanks to the SKK studio scholarship and the City of Lucerne she was able to stay there for 6 months. Due to the riots happening at that time her husband Nikola Ilić, also a director and cameraman, accompanied her. In this heated political climate it took them some time to digest their impressions of Cairo and develop a film idea.
The two filmmakers were very interested in how people in Cairo dealt with everyday life, while their country was sliding back into a military dictatorship. Accompanied by locals, they tried capturing intimate moments in Cairo’s alleyways and slums. Not only the filming ban made this a difficult task, but also the general mistrust around them. Hardly anyone dared to speak out in front of the camera, out of fear that they would be arrested.
The Swiss journalist Thomas Dayer- who was living with them in the SKK studio apartment- was interviewing Egyptians from the culturel scene for the Swiss Romandie magazine sept.info. Anonymous statements from these interviews were added at the end of the film. They demonstrate the helplessness many Egyptians are feeling towards their country’s regression back into oppression.
