The Square

May 23 – May 29
The Square
Fri 5/23 6:30 w/ Mezzanine Lounge open; Sat 5/24 4:00 & 9:00; Sun 5/25 5:00; Mon 5/26 6:30; Tue 5/27 9:00; Wed 5/28 6:30; Thu 5/29 4:00 & 9:00
Dir: Jehane Noujaim / 2014 / Egypt/ US / Arabic with English subtitles / 95 min / DCP

Nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, Egyptian-American documentarian Jehane Noujaim’s (Startup.com, Control Room) The Square takes you inside the Egyptian revolution centered around Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Following the lives of several Egyptians who participated in the revolution from 2011 through today, Noujaim’s film attempts to give a broad view of the lives at stake – actor/activist Khalid Abdalla, singer/songwriter Ramy Essam, Muslim Brotherhood member Magdy Ashour, and every-youth Ahmed Hassan, struggling to rise above his hardscrabble beginnings and personifying a nation’s hopes and dreams. Combining footage previously uploaded to social media with intimate handheld POV camera work often obtained at great cost to the cameraperson, Noujaim does not shy away from the brutal, tragic aspects of a nation in upheaval. Staying on the scene long after most news organizations had moved on to the next global hotspot post—the removal of Hosni Mubarak—Noujaim went back to Tahrir Square this past summer to update the film with the events resulting in the end of Mohamed Morsi’s brief term as President. New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Mike Scott enthuses, “Not only is it a searing on-the-ground, in-the-fray portrait of the heart of Egypt’s ongoing revolution, but it is also a stirring tribute to the indomitable spirit of those who are risking, and in many cases giving, their lives to keep it alive.”