Credits Director Jehane Noujaim Producer Karim Amer Editors Pedro Kos, Muhamed El Manasterly, Christopher De La Torre, Pierre Haberer, Stefan Ronowiscz Cinematographers: Muhammad Hamdy, Ahmed Hassan, Jehane Noujaim, Cressida Trew Composers: H. Scott Salinas, Jonas Colstrup Cast: Khalid Abdalla, Magdy Ashour, Ahmed Hassan, Ragia Omran, Ramy Essam, Aida Elkashef Executive Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Mike Lerner, Sarah Johnson, Jodie Evans, Lekha Singh, Gavin, Dougan, Dan Catullo III, Ibrahim AlHusseini, Lisa Nishimura, Adam Del Deo, Khalil Noujaim, Alexandra Johnes, Jeff Skoll
Technical Information Duration 104 minutes Screening format HDCAM Shooting format 1080p25 Video/Audio Color/Stereo
Distribution & Production Partners Noujaim Films Maktube Productions Netflix Originals Worldview Entertainment Roast Beef Productions Participant Media
Publicity North America, Latin America, UK, Netherlands, Nordics: Karen Barragan, Netflix Originals ([email protected])
North American Affiliates: West Coast - David Magdael & Associates- David Magdael ([email protected]) East Coast – Susan Norget Film Promotion- Susan Norget ([email protected]) DC - PR Collaborative- Jamie Shor ([email protected])
Sales North American Sales Dana O’Keefe ([email protected])
For all other areas, please contact Sabrina Chammas at [email protected]
Awards Sundance Film Festival - Audience Award: World Cinema: Documentary (2013) Toronto International Film Festival - BlackBerry People's Choice Documentary Award (2013). IDA Documentary Association- Best Feature Award (2013) ArcLight Documentary Film Series - Jury Prize (2013) Carmel Art and Film Festival - Best Documentary (2013) Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal - Opening film and Audience Award (2013)
Selections 86th Academy Awards - 1 of 15 films in the Documentary Feature category to advance in the voting process for the 86th Oscars® IDA Documentary Awards - Nominee - Best Documentary (2013) Independent Spirit Awards 2014 - Nominee - Best Documentary (2013) Satellite Awards - Nominee - Best Documentary (2013) Sheffield Doc/Fest - Tim Hetherington Award presented by Dogwoof and Doc/Fest (2013) National Board Of Review - Top 5 Documentaries of 2013
Social Media facebook.com/TheSquareFilm twitter.com/TheSquareFilm http://www.TheSquareFilm.com
Quotes
"OSCAR WORTHY … A remarkable portrait of Egypt’s false dawns and worthy of its Oscar buzz." "The Square thrusts you right into the heart of the daily struggle they lived." Time Magazine
"Stunning! [A story] that has not yet been told with such rousing and heartbreaking clarity. Feels like a revelation." The New York Times
"In Jehane Noujaim's documentary The Square, the Egyptian revolution is finally explained in a clear, wonderfully intimate and non-condescending way…a documentary we can all go back to again and again to better understand, empathize and identify with our Egyptian brothers and sisters." The Huffington Post
Press Kit — Last updated Dec 5th, 2013 © 2013 Noujaim Films
SYNOPSIS The Story of Revolution Behind The Headlines From the 2011 overthrow of a 30-year dictator, through military rule, and culminating with the forced military removal of the Muslim Brotherhood president in the summer of 2013, we follow a group of Egyptian activists as they battle leaders and regimes, and risk their lives to build a new society of conscience.
The Egyptian Revolution has been an ongoing roller coaster. Through the news, we only get a glimpse of the bloodiest battle, an election, or a million man march. At the beginning of August 2013, we witnessed the second president deposed within the space of three years. The Square is a truly immersive experience, transporting the viewer deeply into the intense emotional drama and personal stories behind the news. It is the inspirational story of young people claiming their rights, struggling through multiple forces: from a brutal army dictatorship willing to crush protesters with military tanks, to a corrupt Muslim Brotherhood using mosques to manipulate voters. The activists in our film are armed with nothing more than cameras, social media, videos posted to YouTube, and a resolute determination to liberate their nation. The film is made in a cinéma vérité style, giving us an up-close view of revolution from the ground. New technologies show us that the voice of young people cannot be silenced in this digital age. Our characters are fighting an ancient war with new weapons.
The Square was first released as an unfinished cut at Sundance in January of 2013, where it received the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary. Yet as the filmmakers were accepting the award, the characters of the film were back in the streets of Egypt fighting, as the first democratically elected president announced that he was granting himself powers greater than their previous dictator. With these unexpected events, we knew that the story was not over, so we returned to the streets to capture what would become the second part to the story — the battle against the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi’s removal by the Egyptian army.
We witness the incredible sacrifice these activists endure on the road to freedom. Through the voices of these daring revolutionaries, we understand why they believe that it’s worth risking life and limb for ideals and the future of the country.
This documentary takes us on a transformational journey into this historical revolution first-hand through the eyes of both secular and Muslim Brotherhood protagonists, who once stood united with one another against a brutal regime. The audience watches as the country splits, and those who once ate together, slept next to each other, and joined forces in Tahrir Square to fight for dignity and social justice, are forced to stand opposite one another, divided by politics, on the streets of Cairo.
The Square is a live developing story of the quintessential struggle for freedom and democracy, of people putting everything on the line to fight for their rights against institutional powers. Egypt has become a battleground of ideas, and the films shows that it is the most devout of Muslims that will take to the street to fight the abuse of religion to create a fascist state. For the first time, Muslims in vast numbers are fighting against political Islam. The complexity of what is happening here cannot be summed up in a news report. What happens in Egypt will dramatically affect the rest of the Middle East and the world.
Our goal for audiences is to experience the evolution of a revolution in the 21st century and understand what these activists are trying to say: civil rights and freedoms are never given away, they are fought for. Historically, this has always been the case, from the Civil Rights movement to the fight against Apartheid. But how does this fight begin and sustain itself and ultimately become successful? This film shows that true change in a society does not begin with a majority, but the relentless and ongoing commitment of individuals to those principles of change.
DIRECTOR: JEHANE NOUJAIM Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim has worked on various documentaries in both the Middle East and the United States. Before graduating from Harvard, she was awarded the Gardiner Fellowship for Mokattam, an Arabic film she directed about a garbage- collecting village near Cairo, Egypt. Jehane then joined the MTV News and Documentary Division as a segment producer for the documentary series Unfiltered. She soon left her position at MTV to produce and direct the feature documentary, StartUp.com. The critically acclaimed film won countless awards including the DGA and IDA awards for best director. Jehane continued to work on numerous documentaries as a cinematographer including: Born Rich, Only The Strong Survive, and Down From The Mountain, before directing Control Room in 2004. Control Room, which also met with critical acclaim, is a documentary that exposes the difference in media coverage between the Arab and Western world during the United States’ war with Iraq. Control Room opened in theaters internationally and broke box office records for a documentary on Middle East Affairs. It was for this film that Jehane won the coveted TED Prize in 2006, previously awarded to Bono and President Clinton. Each TED Prize winner is granted a wish to change the world. Jehane’s wish was to create a day in which the power of film could bring people from all over the world together to form a global community and perhaps form a new understanding of each other. This day was Pangea Day; a live video-conference featuring music, film, and speakers that took place in Cairo, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, as well as other cities, in over 100 countries. Jehane has continued to work in the U.S. and in the Middle East on films as an executive producer for such films as Encounter Point and Budrus. She has also co-directed Egypt: We Are Watching You, which premiered as one of the ten films in the Why Democracy Series focusing on contemporary democracy around the globe. In 2012, she co- directed Rafea: Solar Mama, an award-winning film about a Jordanian woman who travels to India with the dream of becoming a solar engineer. The Square, the Sundance Audience Award-winning film chronicling the heart of the Egyptian revolution, is her 5th feature-length documentary.
AWARDS FILMOGRAPHY The Square (Documentary) Director, 2013 Prior to The Square Startup.com
Rafea: Solar Mama (Documentary) • Directors Guild of America: DGA Award (2002) Director, 2013 • Double Take Documentary Film Festival: MTV • News Doc Prize (2001) Budrus (Documentary) • International Documentary Association: Best Feature Executive Producer, 2009 Documentary (2001) • Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: LAFCA Egypt: We Are Watching You (Documentary) Award (2001) Director, 2007 • Philadelphia Film Festival: Jury Award (2001)
3 Dancers (Documentary Short) Control Room
Camera, 2007 • International Documentary Association: IDA
• Award (2001) Storm from the South (Documentary) • Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: CDS Co-Director, 2006 • Filmmaker Award & Jury Award (2004) Encounter Point (Documentary) Executive • Sydney Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize (2004) Producer, 2006 • Seattle Film Critics Award: Best Documentary • (2004) Control Room (Documentary) • Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: BSFC Award Executive Producer, Director, Cinematographer Best Documentary (2004) & Writer, 2004 Rafea: Solar Mama Born Rich (Documentary) • Global Justice: Oxfam Award (2012) Second Camera, 2003 • DOC NYC: Special Jury Prize & Audience Award • (2012) Only the Strong Survive (Documentary) • Wakefield: Best of Fest (2012) Cinematographer, 2002
Startup.com (Documentary) Executive Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, 2001
Down from the Mountain (Documentary) Cinematographer, 2000
DIRECTOR’S MOTIVATION From a letter from prison by one of the protestors:
“We go to Al Midan (the square) to discover that we love life outside it, and to discover that our love for life is resistance. We race towards the bullets because we love life, and we go into prison because we love freedom.”
It is this shared spirit that gives light to what our story is really about – sacrifice for ideals that are bigger than the individual. Every moment in history begins with a few dedicated people—from the civil rights movement of the ‘60s to the fight to end Apartheid in South Africa. We usually see the culmination of their efforts—the Million Man March on Washington, or the removal of a dictator. But we never see the dramatic personal struggles of the few people who begin the fight before they are joined by millions. We never see the moments where Martin Luther King or Gandhi believes he has failed, and is alone, with no supporters. Understanding the journey of the struggle with its successes and failures is a crucial testimony that we hope can be shared and learned from for years to come.
While our characters put their lives on the line to battle the largest standing army in the Middle East with nothing but stones, we as filmmakers were right behind them with our cameras. By living with our characters for nearly three years, we were also able to capture the personal sacrifices behind the headlines that everyone, regardless of nationality, can relate to. We hope that, upon seeing this film, our audiences will feel that they have been in Tahrir Square, that they have experienced the revolution, that they have become friends with our characters, and that they have truly felt the blood, sweat, tears, and joy behind the politics and the news stories. We hope to bring you a close, immediate look at what we see as the civil rights movement of our time; to see why the rights that we hold dear must continue to be fought for—on the streets of Cairo, to Turkey, to Syria, the U.S. and around the world; to see what it means to fight for what our characters call “a new society of conscience” for the 21st century.
PRODUCER: KARIM AMER Karim Amer is an award winning Egyptian American producer and entrepreneur. His film, The Square (Al MIDAN), which won the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner and the Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award, takes audiences to the front lines of the harsh day-to-day realities faced by people working to build Egypt’s new democracy. Catapulting us into the action spread across 2011 through the summer 2013, the film provides a kaleidoscopic, visceral experience of the struggle. Cairo’s Tahrir Square is the heart and soul of the film, where several young activists meet armed with values, determination, music, humor, an abundance of social media, and sheer obstinacy, they know that the thorny path to democracy only began with Hosni Mubarak’s fall.
Karim has co-produced award winning film Rafea Solar Mama and Voting for God, a documentary film covering the first democratic presidential elections in Egypt, with acclaimed filmmaker and TEDPrize winner Jehane Noujaim. Karim was raised between Miami, Florida and Cairo, Egypt, and graduated from NYU.
CHARACTER PROFILES Khalid Abdalla Male, mid-30s. British-Egyptian actor and filmmaker (star of The Kite Runner, United 93 and Green Zone). Inspired by the activism of his father, who was jailed in Egypt in the 70’s and has lived in exile in London, Khalid leaves his life in London to join the revolution and complete the family’s struggle, discovering a profound sense of his Egyptian identity in the process. Khalid is amongst the first five hundred people to break through the police cordon and take Tahrir Square on January 28th, remaining in the square until the downfall of Mubarak. Bridging two cultures, Khalid takes on a significant role in the revolution in speaking to international media and shaping the way Western journalists interpret the protests. Determined and articulate, Khalid moves his life to Egypt during the transitional period, taking part in protests post-Mubarak and spearheading an alternative media center to counter state propaganda.
Magdy Ashour Male, mid-40s. Protester and Muslim Brotherhood security. A father of four, Magdy was abducted and tortured under Mubarak’s rule for being part of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Magdy is strong, kind and deeply moved by the social injustice and struggle to survive the experiences in his working-class neighborhood every day. Unlikely friends, Magdy and Khalid met in Tahrir during the 18 days and their exchange of ideas and viewpoints means a lot to them. Post-Mubarak’s fall, the Brotherhood enters a series of negotiations with the Army and re-enters political life with a game plan after years of persecution. In line with the centralized Brotherhood policy aimed at gaining political ground, Magdy stops going to many of the protests. But as he sees the poverty and injustice around him unchanged, Magdy goes through a crisis of faith about the future of the revolution. By the end of the film he goes through a personal transformation, rejecting the politics of the Brotherhood for the idealism of Tahrir. By the end of the film, under pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood, he returns to support them.
Ahmed Hassan Male, mid-20s. Protester and unofficial Square Security. From the working-class district of Shobra, he is a born storyteller and street revolutionary. Ahmed is a key part of the defense of Tahrir in the 18 days leading up to Mubarak’s resignation, and all of the occupations of the square since the fall of Mubarak. To many, he has become the iconic revolutionary of Tahrir. Ahmed’s biggest fear is that the ideals that the revolution fought for will be stolen by military dictatorship, and then by the new religious dictatorship. His hope is to create a new society of conscience in Egypt.
Ragia Omran Female, mid-30s. Human rights lawyer, protester and activist. Plain- speaking and passionate, she is on the frontline of the human rights movement in Egypt, bringing her into direct conflict with the new Military Council. Ragia’s experience of the daily frustrations of trying to represent imprisoned protesters and civilians takes us to the frontline of the legal battle for the future of Egypt. After the fall of Mubarak, she is arrested while working as an official monitor of the referendum. Between her family’s fears for her safety and her fight to put human rights for Egyptians at the center of the new Egypt, Ragia begins the battle of her lifetime as she spearheads a campaign for the release of political prisoners and civilians detained under military law, and then by the new Muslim Brotherhood leadership.
Ramy Essam Male, mid-20s. Protest singer. Unknown before Tahrir, Ramy becomes the unofficial singer-songwriter of the revolution with a massive following. From a small town outside Cairo, his songs become the soundtrack to the revolution. After the fall of Mubarak, Ramy is targeted and tortured by the Army in the Egyptian Museum. He manages to escape his arrest with the help of a friend and goes on to write and perform more songs, campaigning for the release of the protesters who were detained with him. He writes songs for each fight the revolutionaries go through and becomes the musical narrator for the film.
Aida El Kashef Female, mid-20s. AIda is a filmmaker from Cairo who sets up the first tent in Tahrir Square at the beginning of the revolution. She also documents the events as they unravel around her. With her camera as her weapon, she fights to bring change with hours of powerful footage, such as her chilling interview with her friend and singer Ramy Essam after his brutal torture by Army officers in the Egyptian museum.
As a state media campaign is waged against the image of the protestor—turning the public image of her and her fellow protesters from heroes to villains of the nation, Aida realizes she must use her camera to try to publicize the truth. She co-founds the equivalent of the “Democracy Now” of Egypt (“Mosireen”) and organizes public outdoor screenings around the country—to fight against state propaganda and show the true beliefs and motivations of her friends in the Square.
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