Screened as part of TOAFF16
What is the legacy of Egypt’s revolution for the women who took part?
Thousands of women joined the 2011 protests in Cairo. This documentary gives voice to three of them: Hend Nafea, a young, observant Muslim whose activism led to her brutal arrest and torture; Khadiga el-Hinawi, a widow who offered succour to the protestors, and Mariam Kirollos, a Christian feminist and human rights researcher. As their stories interweave, the film tracks their battle against social prejudice, state-sanctioned sexual violence and a biased judiciary – under three successive regimes. It provides a complex portrait of a movement struggling to define its goals and to recover hope from the ashes of a revolution that ended in brutal repression.
The history of African women’s leadership in political and social movements often remains unsung. As this record illustrates, their resilience, solidarity and hope in the face of renewed oppression is nothing short of heroic.
