SECTIONS // OFFICIAL COMPETITION FEATURE LENGTH

AL MIDAN (THE SQUARE)

Out of Competition
Jeanne Nouhaim
104' / 2013 / Egypt, United States of America
Web: Thesquarefilm.com
Arabic
English and spanish subtitled

From the 2011 overthrow of a 30­‐year dictator, through military rule, and culminating with the forced military removal of the Muslim Brotherhood president in the summer of 2013, we follow a group of Egyptian activists as they battle leaders and regimes, and risk their lives to build a new society of conscience.
The Square is a truly immerse experience, transporting the viewer deeply into the intense emotional drama and personal stories behind the news.
This documentary  takes us on  a transformational journey into  this historical revolution first-­‐hand through the eyes of both secular and Muslim Brotherhood protagonists, who once stood united wit  one another  against a brutal regime. The audience watches as the country splits, and those who once ate together, slept next to each other, and joined forces in Tahrir Square to fight for dignity and social justice, are forced to stand opposite one another, divided by politics, on the streets of Cairo.
The Square is a live developing story of the quintessential struggle for freedom and democracy, of people putting everything on the line to fight for their rights against institutional powers. What happens in Egypt will dramatically affect the rest of the Middle East and the world.
This film shows that true change in a society does not begin with a majority, but the relentless and ongoing commitment of individuals to those principles of change.  

Main Festivals & Awards

Sundance Film Festival - Audience Award: World Cinema: Documentary (2013)
Toronto International Film Festival - BlackBerry People's Choice Documentary Award (2013).
IDA Documentary Association- Best Feature Award (2013)
The 66th Annual DGA Awards – Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary (2014)
ArcLight Documentary Film Series - Jury Prize (2013)
Carmel Art and Film Festival - Best Documentary (2013)
Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal - Opening film and Audience Award (2013)

Director's Biography

Jehane Noujaim is an Egyptian-American filmmaker who has worked on countless award winning documentaries. Before graduating from Harvard, she was awarded the Gardiner Fellowship for Mokattam, an Arabic film she directed about a garbage-collecting village near Cairo, Egypt. She then produced StartUp.com, which won many awards including the DGA and IDA awards for best director. Jehane's 2004 film, Control Room, opened in theaters internationally and broke box office records for a documentary on Middle East Affairs. The Square, Jehane's Oscar nominated film chronicling the heart of the Egyptian revolution, is her 5th feature-length documentary. The Square was the recipient of several awards including the audience awards at Sundance, Toronto, and Dubai Film Festival and the IDA award for best documentary.

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