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German Premiere: "Egypt's Modern Pharaohs" by acclaimed Documentarist Jihan El-Tahri
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Event information
| Rosenthaler Straße 40/41 10178 Berlin |
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Am 25. Januar 1952 gleicht das Zentrum von Kairo einem Schlachtfeld. Die Menge fordert den Rückzug der britischen Kolonialtruppen aus ihrem Land und verlangt "Freiheit, Brot und soziale Gerechtigkeit". Am 23. Juli wird die Monarchie gestürzt. Im Februar 2011 skandiert das ägyptische Volk dieselben Parolen. Nur richtet sich sein Zorn diesmal gegen Husni Mubarak, der das Land drei Jahrzehnte lang mit harter Hand regierte. Nachdem die Ägypter im Zuge der Aufstände in der arabischen Welt in Massenprotesten auf die Straße gegangen waren, zwang die Armeeführung Mubarak am 11. Februar 2011 zum Rücktritt.
Nach dem Sturz der Monarchie am 23. Juli 1952 durch einen Militärputsch unter Mohammed Nagib und Gamal Abdel Nasser wurde 1953 die Republik ausgerufen. Sechs Jahrzehnte lang folgte an der Spitze des Landes ein moderner Pharao auf den anderen. Von Gamal Abdel Nasser über Anwar el-Sadat bis hin zu Husni Mubarak war ein Ziel allen gemein: Ägyptens endgültige Ablösung von den ehemaligen Kolonialmächten und seine Verwandlung in einen modernen, laizistischen Musterstaat für den ganzen Kontinent. Der Dokumentarfilm "Pharao im heutigen Ägypten" beleuchtet die Geschichte der aufeinanderfolgenden Machtregime ab den 50er Jahren und erklärt, warum ihre Weichenstellungen für eine gefestigte Unabhängigkeit in der Revolution 2011 auf dem Tahrir-Platz mündeten.
Im Anschluss an die Filmvorführung finden eine Diskussion mit Regisseurin Jihan El-Tahri sowie ein kleiner Empfang im Kino-Foyer statt.
Organisiert von AfricAvenir in Kooperation mit ALFILM Festival, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation und Zentrum Moderner Orient.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7FvWXLYgbc&app=desktop
Reviews
"A brilliant three hours documentary saga tracing the history of post-colonial Egypt through its charismatic leaders: Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anouar el-Sadate and Hosni Moubarak. Three "Pharaohs" who, during their uncontested reign, every time had to deal with the egyptian islamist movements amongst which the powerful Muslim Brotherhood." Thalia Bayle, mondafrique.com
"Jihan El-Tahri makes political films, resulting from in-depth investigations, which do not hide her own viewpoints and on the contrary assumes them perfectly, this way being totally honest with the spectator. The seriousness of her research and their analysis are what characterises her films and make them so convincing. They are always very clear, despite their respect for the complexity of history: her comments relate the essential, the patiently researched archives speak for themselves, interviews help develop the argument." Olivier Barlet, Africultures
"It took Jihan El-Tahri five years to assemble all the thirty testimonies of major players and personalities, the rich archives, but also numerous extracts from Egyptian fiction movies which lend the series their special flavour. Gripping from beginning to end, the result is of impressive topicality and relevance (...)." Olivier Barlet, Africultures
"A thrilling historical fresco in three episodes that demonstrates in how far the confrontation between military and islamist groupings has contributed to write the country's history of the late 60 years" By Christophe Ayad, lemonde.fr
"Screened by ARTE on one evening, the films finally make egyptian history from the 1950s to present legible. (...) Jihan El Tahri's documentary saga helps us understand that the setbacks or failure of the revolution was already enshrined in it since its inception, on 25 January 2011."
"The scale of the topic, its opacity, rather than discouraging Jihan El-Tahri, have stimulated her interest. For the director, afer having addressed, film after film, the intricacies of African and Middle Eastern geopolitics, the origins of decisions which lead to independences as well as the origins of post-colonial disillusion, the perspective to tackle 60 yeras of contemporary egyptian history was almost an obvious challenge." teleobs.nouvelobs.com
"Filmed after the fall of Mubarak, her film enjoys a liberated speech, and an intuition that the past period will make it possible to move forward. Masterful weaving of testimonies, delightful extracts of rare egyptian fiction movies and archives, the documentary abound as always with enlightening anecdotes which elucidate the hidden agendas, the battles for influence. An exciting film, rich in numerous revelations." teleobs.nouvelobs.com
Director: Jihan El-Tahri
El-Tahri started her working career as a journalist. Between 1984 and 1990 she worked as a news agency correspondent and TV researcher covering Middle East politics. In 1990 she began directing and producing documentaries for French television, the BBC, PBS and other international broadcasters. Since then she has directed more than a dozen films including the Emmy nominated The House of Saud, which explores the Saudi/US relations through the portraits of the Kingdom’s monarchs. "The Price of Aid", which won the European Media prize in 2004, examined who really benefits from the system of International Food Aid. "Cuba: An African Odyssey", which recounts the untold story of Cuba’s support for African revolutions, has received multiple International awards. Her feature documentary "Behind the Rainbow", which examines the transitional process in South Africa, has been released in 2009 and has since won various prizes. She has just recently finalised the 3 hour documentary titled "Egypt’s Modern Pharaohs".
El-Tahri has also written two books, "The 9 Lives of Yasser Arafat" and "Israel and the Arabs: the 50 Years War" published by Penguin. As a conscious and engaged filmmaker, she is also an active member in various associations and institutions working with African cinema. She has served as treasurer of the Guild of African Filmmakers in the Diaspora, Regional Secretary of the Federation of Pan African Cinema (FEPACI) and as an Advisor on Focus Feature’s Africa first Program. She is currently a Mentor at the Documentary Campus.