Documentary Production and Distribution News

(Hollywood, CA) - The feature length documentary �Egypt the Story Behind the Revolution,� directed by Khaled Sayed and produced by M. David Green, has won the Visionary Award at the Awareness Film Festival in West Hollywood.

�Egypt: the Story Behind the Revolution� introduces Egyptian activists to the American audience, and gives them a voice. Hear them tell the story of their struggle during the 18 days standoff with the Egyptian state police, and how they finally succeed to remove Mubarak after 30 years as a sitting president, in their own words.

According to Sayed, �Egyptians used to fear talking out against the government, even in private, because the feeling was that the walls had ears.� Now, he says, �The walls still hear, but the people have no fear, because they have nothing left to lose.�

However, even that is not without a price. Sayed was beaten and roughed up at the hands of Egyptian authorities repeatedly while filming his documentary. Sayed�s treatment is perhaps evidence of what he calls �the incomplete revolution.� The nation�s former president for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak, is gone, but the oppression continues.

Tony Dijamco from the Awareness Film Festival said, �When I was watching the first 20 minutes or so there was something I couldn�t put my finger on, and I realized that the film didn�t have a narrator, and it was really all these individual stories that came together. I found the remarkable because i don�t see that in documentaries very often.�

Dijamco went on to say, �One of the people interviewed said that the revolution didn't have a leader; there was no one person, there was no one figurehead people are following. And I thought that really brought the whole story together.� Sayed�s powerful images capture these passionate pleas for human dignity, as the tear gas clouds envelop and swallow the protesters.

The award-winning film maker is boycotting the election. �None of the candidates will have any real power,� says Sayed. �The new constitution, written by the same military leaders Hosni Mubarak put into power, takes the entire military budget out of the control of the government.�

Sayed is currently working on �Stories from Tahrir,� a follow-up documentary in which he follows up with a look at the challenges Egyptians still face in their continuing fight for freedom, and how they define success.





Resources:

www.behindtherevolution.com