On the day the 2014 Academy Awards Nominations were announced, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of The Square. After winning the Audience Award at both Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival, the film is now in the run-up for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

The Square portrays the Egyptian revolution and some of its passionate activists, including British–Egyptian actor and filmmaker Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, 2007), who was present for a Q&A together with cinematographer Cressida Trew.

Documenting from the early days of Egypt’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak to the aftermath of Mohamed Morsi’s ousting by the military, American–Egyptian director Jehane Noujaim’s film follows ‘revolutionaries’ Abdalla, Ahmed Hassan and Magdy Ashour as they live, and fight, through three years of revolution.

Coming from three generations that have been fighting for political reform in Egypt, and with his father in the audience, Abdalla explained he finds it problematic to answer questions about “what does now tell us about where we are going”. In response to a question about the current situation, he said he would rather look at what is moving people and what this can “tell us about where we come from and where we are headed”.

The film’s delivery was almost as problematic as its production. According to Abdalla and Trew, the documentary had several cuts because of the tumultuous and constantly changing events taking place. On her way to the film’s premiere at Sundance, director Noujaim realised events were unfolding in Egypt, that had to be included. The Square is now in its third cut.

“We had terabytes of footage,” said Trew, who said she joined the production team when she met Noujaim in Tahrir Square.

“It’s textbook on how you should never film a documentary.”

She explained filming the documentary was a very collaborative effort, with only little direction because of the constantly shifting and unpredictable events.

“We were bobbing around on this massive tide, this sea change. All you could do is follow your guts,” she said.

She added that it was the first time she had seen that version of the film.

Abdalla said that despite the struggle and unpredictable nature of Egypt’s revolution he was determined to continue the fight for change.

“At no point of the story did we know what the story was,” he said.

“We’re going through a massive shift. It’s possible that things will die down, but for this kind of stability that is fetishised you need the circumstances that ignited this revolution to go away.”

 

“As long as I’m not certain that in six to eight months time the balance of power won’t be the same as it is today, then we’ll be living in a revolution.”

“The Oscar [nomination] is great, it’s great that it might be able to be seen in Egypt,” said Abdalla, referring to the fact that that the film has yet to have a public showing in the north African country. The 2014 Academy Award winners will be announced on Sunday 2 March.

The film is now available to view on NetFlix. To stay up to date on the developments on the film, follow them on twitter, find the film on facebook or go to the film’s website.

Dr Omar Ahour (left), Jonathan Rugman (centre left), Mohamed Yehia (centre right), Dina Wahba (right); Photo: Dan Tookey

Following Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s removal from power by the Egyptian military on the 3 July, the Frontline Club hosted a debate, ten days later, exploring what has happened and asking what these events mean for Egypt’s future.

Mona Al-Qazzaz, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesperson in the UK, began proceedings by describing recent events as a “tragedy for Egypt… And has run back to the day before 11 February 2011, every single democratic step… we were hoping for has just been abolished.”

The question of democracy and ‘legitimate process’ dominated much of the debate. Dr Omar Ashour, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, argued that the 2012 election was based on a false choice:

“Many of the revolutionaries voted for him [Morsi] not because they like him, not because he was their first choice but they voted for him to stop Ahmed Shafik, who was Mubarak’s prime minister from taking over and basically returning us back to pre January 2011.”

The reason for Morsi’s ousting, according to Dina Wahba, an independent Egyptian activist taking part in the recent protests, was because he betrayed the Egyptian people:

“Morsi did not deliver on his promises… The constitution for example was about exclusion… It was about one faction wanting to exclude other factions and wanting to work alone, to become the hegemonic power in the state.”

Following Wahba’s remarks, Chairman Jonathan Rugman, a foreign affairs correspondent at Channel 4 News, asked Dr Maha Azzam:

“What do you say when millions of people turned out on the streets as they did, does that constitute democratic legitimacy, that trumps what happened at the ballot box in 2012?”

Dr Maha Azzam, an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, replied by saying “that’s a very dangerous statement:”

 “We had a democratic process underway, the danger with going with numbers on the street, and they were huge numbers to say the least, is that they can go the other way as well. Ultimately we did have elections… A referendum, albeit with a small turnout, and so we had a process. We had an alternative, the alternative was to go to parliamentary elections.”

Dr Azzam argued that the reliance on the military will see them play a large part in Egypt “for the foreseeable future.”

Dr Ashour concurred saying the opposition forces could “have paralysed the Morsi administration via institution… What has happened now is that you have sacrificed the ballot box for the bullets.”

Taking a step back, Mohamed Yehia, the multi-media editor at BBC Arabic, compared the events in June 2013 and February 2011:

“In 2011 the street was united, this time there is a very huge split in the street; the second difference is the level of violence, we have seen the events at the Republican Guard building, an intensity of which we have never seen before. There seems to be a readiness to commit acts of violence from all sides that we have not seen before…”

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/egypts-new-roadmap

A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews.

Monday 10 December

A bombastic week of international news kicks off Monday with the opening of the window for North Korea’s latest satellite launch attempt. The launch will have important implications, both domestic and international. Domestically, a successful launch would boost the credibility of Kim Jong-un; conversely, a second consecutive failure might have important implications in a country where power is so concentrated among a military elite. Whether successful or not, the launch will add to regional tensions and may even influence the outcome of South Korea’s presidential elections, due on 19th December.

The seemingly endless conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo will be the subject of consultations on Monday when the African Union’s Peace and Security Council meet to discuss the M23 rebel movement at the AU HQ in Addis Ababa.

Meanwhile, in New York, the UN’s Security Council holds what is expected to be one of the highlights of the Moroccan presidency of the SC. The country’s foreign minister Saad-Eddine al Othmani will chair a high-level meeting on security in the Sahel, likely to focus on Islamist militancy in the region, notably in Mali.

In the United States, as the fiscal cliff deadline draws ever closer, President Barack Obama – who has focused almost exclusively on this issue since his re-election in November – is due to travel on Monday to the Detroit area to deliver a speech pressing the case for an agreement to avert the crisis.

Lastly on Monday, key EU figures travel to Oslo to pick up their Nobel Peace Prize.

Tuesday 11 December

Tuesday is a bit quieter, former President of Cote D’Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo is due back in the International Criminal Court for a status hearing; Canada’s Central Bank Governor Mark Carney, who will head up the Bank of England from next July, delivers a speech in Toronto; and Russia and Georgia return to the negotiating table in Geneva for the latest round of UN-mediated talks.

Wednesday 12 December

On Wednesday, Morocco hosts a Friends of Syria meeting in Marrakech. Hillary Clinton has confirmed her attendance, making it likely a slew of other foreign ministers including Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will attend too.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver his first State of the Union address since returning to the Presidency. There will be significant interest in how the former KGB man chooses to address the increased civil unrest in Russia.

IAEA officials are due in Tehran for their latest round of talks with Iranian officials on ‘outstanding issues’ related to the country’s nuclear programme. The visit follows an announcement by Robert Wood, US Ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog, of a March 2013 ‘deadline’ for Iran to alter its approach to negotiations or face action at the UN Security Council.

In European affairs, following their failure to reach an agreement on a long-term budget, EU leaders reconvene in Brussels on Wednesday for a two-day summit. Eurogroup finance ministers are due to meet on the sidelines to make a final determination on whether to release funds to Greece. One potential spanner in the works is that the IMF has insisted that Greece complete its debt buyback operation before funds are released. However, the schedule for the buyback operation, announced by Greece’s debt management agency on 3 December, does not foresee completion until 17 December.

Thursday 13 December

On Thursday, Tunisia’s main union the UGTT plans to hold a general strike. It coincides with a visit by Hillary Clinton to attend the final day of the Forum for the Future taking place in the country’s capital. All of this comes ahead of the second anniversary on Monday 17 December of Mohamed Bouaziz’s self-immolation.

Friday 14 December

Clinton travels on to Abu Dhabi, which on Friday hosts the third ministerial meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum.

Saturday 15 December

On Saturday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has vowed to press ahead with controversial plans to hold a constitutional referendum, which is likely to result in further unrest.

A three-day conference on nuclear safety kicks off in Fukushima prefecture in Japan. Ministers are due to attend the opening day.

Sunday 16 December

Japan holds parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which Shinzo Abe and his right-leaning LDP are all but certain to regain control of the Shugiin, or lower house. They already control the upper house.

Following presidential elections earlier in the year, Venezuela holds gubernatorial elections on Sunday, with attention focused on whether defeated opposition candidate Henrique Capriles secures re-election as governor of Miranda province.

Finally, on Sunday, South Africa’s ANC opens its five-yearly policy conference. At which, despite widespread labour unrest following the Marikana mine massacre and a very public challenge from former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, Jacob Zuma is expected to be re-elected the party’s leader.

Some images courtesy of fotostory / Shutterstock.com.