CAIRO - The ranks of the revolutionary youngsters in Egypt's post-revolution Al Tahrir Square were swollen by veteran film directors who refused to leave the now-world-famous square, until the young heroes and other citizens had done so. Their time with the extraordinary community in Al Tahrir has given them an intimate insight into the January 25 revolution and its development. Emerging from a small-size tent pitched in the iconic square, one documentary film director said that he decided to mingle with the crowds of youngsters in Al Tahrir Square to get firsthand experience and better understand the feelings of the Egyptian people. One of his colleagues cut short a study trip in Paris. Returning home, director Salah Hashem went directly to the epicentre of the Egyptian Revolution, having abandoned his documentary film projects in Paris after watching the violent attacks on the youngsters in Al Tahrir. The brutal onslaught was launched by violent elements and villains believed to have been mobilised by the formerly ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), in a bid to remove the young people from the square. “The scenes broadcast on television were so shocking that I snatched my camera and flew home on the next plane to Cairo. I was very excited about being with those brave youngsters during those historic moments,” the director says. Arriving in Al Tahrir, Hashem spent the next three hours filming his first impressions, before wandering farther afield. “I have been touring the streets of Cairo and other governorates, because my vision has yet to crystallise. My task is a sophisticated one with different dimensions. “The Youth Revolution has altered Egypt's history. My mind is full of ideas. Everything will become clear when I start to edit all my material.” The director told the press that he has unleashed a campaign to launch the January 25 Revolution Documentation Centre (JRDC). He has already launched a website for people to send in their video clips, which the JRDC could use to act as a vivid memory of this great revolution. The revolution and its repercussions nationwide are also the main theme in 18, 40-minute-long documentary films shot by director Eyad Saleh. Saleh, who admires most his documentary which highlights the backwaters of the revolution, is considering editing and merging these 18 documentaries. ‘The Backwaters' attempts to pinpoint who was responsible for the destruction of police stations across the country and for tens of thousands of convicts being let out of jail. It also seeks to identify the thugs mounted on camels and horses, who attacked the youngsters camping out in Al Tahrir on January 28. Another colleague, Tamer el-Ashri, has made a four-minute documentary in praise of some of the obscure, unsung heroes of the January 25 revolution. Some of the other heroes and heroines are better known, such as liberal writer Alaa el-Aswani and actresses Basma and Mona Hilal.
