Not surprisingly, the Arab Spring dominated the recent Human Rights Film Festival, says Osama Kamal Films about the 25 January Revolution and other protest movements around the Arab world were recently screened at the Sawi Culture Wheel (Sakkiet al-Sawi) in Zamalek as part of the fourth Cairo Human Rights Film Festival (CHRFF) organised by the American Islamic Congress (AIC). It was the first such festival to be held after the successive regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. The main themes of the participating films -- dignity, freedom and justice -- were in harmony with the demands of the protest movements still ongoing in the region. The first CHRFF was held in 2008, to mark the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights. The event, held every December, aims to promote films with a human rights focus from all over the world. Non-violent protests in the Arab region dominated the 19 films selected for screening this year out of a total of 54 entries. During the festival the winners of Eye to Heart, a contest for directing and writing short stories about change, repression, and individual initiative, were announced. This year featured three winners from Egypt. Ashraf Nabil collected the best director award for his film Without Words (bedoun kalam), while Mona Qabalan and 13-year-old Yehia Wagdi shared the best script award for their respective films The Sun Will Shine (al-shams sawfa tasta') and Who Shall I Give the Pound To? (liman o'ti al-geneh). Beeshoo's Nightmares (kawabis bishu), a daring film criticising the Syrian regime by a Syrian group called Massasat Matta, was also among the winners. Beeshoo's Nightmares features a puppet show recounting the nightmares that the Syrian president as he faces what may prove to be a final challenge for his power. Without Words describes the way in which Egyptians gave up their usual nonchalance to engage in a powerful explosion of outrage that brought down the regime. Egypt's activist and parliamentarian Mostafa al-Naggar was honoured by the festival organisers for his role in the country's political life. AIC office director Dalia Ziada said that 31-year-old Naggar was an inspiration to the nation because of his outstanding efforts before and after the revolution. Among the films screened at the festival were Bringing Down a Dictator, a 55-minute film by American director Steve York. The film tells the story of the resistance movement against former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic up to the moment when he was ousted in October 2000, showing how the demonstrators succeeded in mounting non-violent protests inspired by the writings of Gene Sharp. The film was first scheduled to show at the 2009 CHRFF but was pulled out by orders from the authorities. My Name is Midan al-Tahrir (esmi midan al-tahrir), a 45-minute film by Egyptian director Ali El-Gehini, examines the various aspects of the Egyptian revolution. The film begins with shots showing the square on 11 February 2011, the day Mubarak was made to step down. Then it speaks of the regime's abuses as seen through the eyes of a man called Khaled Said, who was born the day Mubarak took office. The character, although fictional, derives its name from that of the real life Khaled Said, whose death at the hands of the police sparked off protests that led to the revolution. The film shows the population suffering as they try to cope with worsening traffic, poor education and random brutality by the police, who were instructed to protect the regime and not the people. Having shown scenes of daily torture in police stations, the film offers some discomforting statistics. Nearly 80 per cent of the Egyptian population live in poverty, 14.8 million live in shanty towns,and 2,500 world class specialists have left the country. The film was screened despite protests from government officials claiming that it was biased and inaccurate. In the six-minute film The Monrovia Diaries... Maspero (yawmiyat manrovia, maspero), Ahmad Abdel-Fattah describes a recent trip to cover elections in Liberia, which happened to coincide with the Maspero carnage. After a 14-year civil war during which 400,000 people lost their lives, Liberia has found its way to democracy, while Egypt is still having trouble. The high point of the film is a comparison between the riot police in Liberia, which manages to stop demonstrators in a peaceful manner, and Egypt's soldiers who killed 25 and wounded hundreds in Maspero. In Freedom Born Within (etwaladet gowwana horreya), Gehad Abdel-Nasser gives a poetic account of revolutionary times in Tahrir, with footage that captures the emotions of the anti-Mubarak crowds. The utterly exceptional Insights on the Revolution, a 43-minute film by French director Sebastien Saugues, samples the opinions of the revolution of Egyptian bloggers, artists, and regular members of the public.
