Directed by Jehane Noujaim Producer Karim Amer Executive Producers Geralyn Dreyfous, Jodie Evans, Sarah Johnson, Mike Lerner, Lekha Singh Editor Pedro Kos Technical Information Duration 104 minutes Screening format HDCAM Shooting format 1080p25 Video/Audio Colour/Stereo Publicity Susan Norget Film Promotion [email protected] Sales International Goldcrest Contact [email protected] North American Dana O’Keefe Contact [email protected] Online facebook.com/TheSquareFilm twitter.com/TheSquareFilm http://www.TheSquareFilm.com Press Kit — Last updated September 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 this month, 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. FILMOGRAPHY AwaRDS The Square (Documentary) Startup.com Director, 2013 Directors Guild of America: DGA Award (2002) Double Take Documentary Film Festival: MTV Rafea: Solar Mama (Documentary) News Doc Prize (2001) Director, 2012 International Documentary Association: Best Feature Documentary (2001) Budrus (Documentary) Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Executive Producer, 2009 LAFCA Award (2001) Philadelphia Film Festival: Jury Award (2001) Egypt: We Are Watching You (Documentary) Director, 2007 Control Room International Documentary Association: IDA 3 Dancers (Documentary Short) Award (2001) Camera, 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: CDS Filmmaker Award & Jury Award (2004) Storm From The South (Documentary) Sydney Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize (2004) Co-Director, 2006 Seattle Film Critics Award: Best Documentary (2004) Encounter Point (Documentary) Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: BSFC Executive Producer, 2006 Award Best Documentary (2004) Control Room (Documentary) Rafea: Solar Mama Executive Producer, Director, Cinematographer Global Justice: Oxfam Award (2012) & Writer, 2004 DOC NYC: Special Jury Prize & Audience Award (2012) Born Rich (Documentary) Wakefield: Best of Fest (2012) Second Camera, 2003 The Square Only the Strong Survive (Documentary) Sundance Film Festival: Audience Award (2013) Cinematographer, 2002 (unfinished cut) 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.