Institute History
Description
January 2011—downtown Cairo—a close-knit group of activist friends struggle to stay alive and stick together as waves of protests escalate around them in their neighborhood near Tahrir Square during the first chaotic days of the Egyptian revolution. Armed with cameras and focused determination, directors Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim take to the streets to capture historic events out of view of the world’s media. What emerges is an astonishing cry for unity. As the violence and uncertainty build, Karim and his young family’s apartment becomes ground zero. Friends and neighbors flock together, fighting to survive the counterpunches thrown by police and the armed gangs of thugs swarming the streets below their balcony.
½ REVOLUTION is a visceral, fiercely immediate, handheld testimony, told through a string of spontaneous stolen moments that allow the viewer the front seat ride of a lifetime in a revolution that continues to unfold before our eyes.