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Première Allemande: "Les Pharaons de l'Egypte Moderne" en présence de la documentariste Jihan El-Tahri
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Event information
| Rosenthaler Straße 40/41 10178 Berlin |
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Le 25 janvier 1952, la révolte des Égyptiens s'achevait, le Caire en flammes. Le soulèvement populaire marqua le début de la Révolution, menée par les Officiers Libres, aboutit finalement à la disparition des vestiges du colonialisme britanniques en Égypte et demandent "Du pain, la liberté et la justice sociale". Le même jour, 59 ans plus tard, les Egyptiens se soulèvent à nouveau, cette fois pour se débarrasser du Président Hosni Moubarak. Comment l'Egypte d'aujourd'hui s'est-elle retrouvée au même stade qu'au moment de sa prise d'indépendance?De l'exil du roi Farouk en 1952 au départ d'Hosni Moubarak en 2011, ce film documentaire revisite 60 ans d'histoire contemporaine de l'Égypte, en s'appuyant sur quatre piliers récurrents : l'armée, la société civile, les Frères musulmans et les interactions du pays avec les puissances étrangères. Une analyse fine s'appuyant sur des archives inédites, des extraits de films égyptiens et des témoignages de personnalités publiques de premier plan."La révolution égyptienne m'a prise par surprise. En tant qu'Egyptienne, j'ai suivi les événements avec fierté. Je me suis questionnée sur ce qui se passait vraiment dans mon pays en 2011." Jihan El-Tahri, réalisatrice.
La projection sera suivie par und discussion avec la réalisatrice Jihan El-Tahri ainsi que d'une petite réception dans le foyer du cinéma.
Organisé par AfricAvenir en coopération avec ALFILM Festival, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation et 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.