This year's entries at the Sawi Culture Wheel Documentary Film Festival highlighted the long, dark struggle of minorities and the underprivileged. Osama Kamal picks out the winning entries The past five festivals held in the Sakia, also known as the Sawi Cultural Wheel, have established it as a main venue for documentaries. This year's festival confirmed Sakia's status as a promoter of serious films. The festival from 18 -- 20 July, involved the screening of 27 films, all different in perspective and style. The films were all gritty, telling the stories of individuals and their struggle for identity, or just to stay alive. One of the films documented life in the underbelly of Cairo, venturing into the areas called ashwaeiyat, or shanty towns. Ezbet al-Ward (Flower Farm) tells the story of people living in the slums, battling poverty, unemployment, and the near lawless ness of the place. In these slums life is a continual struggle for survival, and help is either scarce or utterly lacking. Another film ventures into the secret world of the Druze inside the Golan Heights and Israel, discussing their torn identity as Arabs and Israelis. Rasael al-Hekma (Letters of Wisdom) offers a rare insight into the divided world of Israel's Druze community The Druze are a splinter faction of Shi'ism, and their tenets tend to diverge from those of mainstream Shi'ism as well as Sunni Islam. Ommal Masr (Workers of Egypt) gets more political, documenting the protests held in the last three years in various parts of the country. Many of the protests focused on professional demands, working conditions and fair compensation. However, was there an undercurrent of politics between the lines? Baneina al-Sadd (We Built the Dam) is a trip in memory lane, recalling the epic of the High Dam, the sacrifices of the workers who built the dam between 1960 and 1970, and the symbolic value of the dam in Egyptian memory. The building of the dam was an emotional feat, depicted in dramatic terms as a fight against colonialism and a defiance of the Western world. It also marked the beginning of a decade of close alliance with the Soviet Union. Shakhsiyat Masr (Egypt's Character) delves into the world of Egypt's geographer Gamal Hamdan, hailed by many as a ground-breaking scholar for his research into the national character of the country. Al-Gharabawiis tells the story of a model village of the same name, where the residents recycle used goods, plant trees, and keep things clean and spotless. It is a story of hope amid the grim accounts of modern life and what it has done to the communal spirit of this nation. The films are produced b a variety of organisations. Some are financed by Egyptian Television, the Higher Institute for Cinema, and the National Centre for Cinema, all government-run bodies. Others are created under the auspices of independent outfits, such as the Semat Company for Production and Distribution and the Aroma Company for Production and Distribution, which also sponsored the festival and offered the financial awards. The Centre for the Support of Development and the Hesham Mubarak Law Centre also backed some of the projects. The organisers created two categories for the festivals: films less than 20 minutes long, and films longer than 20 minutes. The judging panel was made up of director Nabiha Lotfi, director Saad Hendawi, cameraman Gamal El-Bush, and editor Rabab Abdel-Latif. First prize for the shorter film category went to Happy New Year, Loay, which was produced by Egyptian Television and focused on a Palestinian child who lost his sight in the Israeli attack on Gaza in 2000. Its director, Riham Ibrahim, a former television presenter, ventured into film making in 2006 with Al-Barei (The Innocent), a documentary about actor Ahmed Zaki that won her a gold prize at the radio and television festival in 2006 and a bronze prize at the Al-Jazeera international festival in the same year. Her second film, Ahlam Taeha (Lost Dreams), was about the sinking of the Egyptian ferryboat Al-Salam 98. It won four awards in 2008, including best documentary film at the Sawi Culture Wheel, with a prize of LE 2000. Second place in the same category, with a prize of LE 1,000, went to Tawasul (Connection), a film produced by the Higher Institute of Cinema about children with hearing problems. The film director, Maged Nader, is in third year at the Higher Institute of Cinema, and, just like its main protagonists, the film is silent. In the category of films longer than 20 minutes the first prize of LE3,000 went to Baneina al - Sadd, the film about the struggle to build the High Dam produced by the Centre for the Support of Development. Directed by Mahmoud El-Adawi, it won the first documentary in the Free Image Festival in 2010. The second prize in the same category, worth LE1,500, went to Rasael al-Hekma, the film about the Druze communities produced by the Nile News Channel. The director, Tamer Mohamed Hanafi, is a presenter at the Nile News Channel and a specialist in the Hebrew Language. His former films are all about Jewish minorities. His first film, Al-Samriyin (The Samarians) was about a section of Jews who oppose the creation of Israel. In Rasael al-Hekma Hanafi ventures inside the Druze community in the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee and North Israel. The term "Rasael al-Hekma" denotes the holy book of the Druze, a document that is secretly circulated among members of the community. The Druze are a minority in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. Hanafi is currently working on a film about Yemeni Jews.
