22 MillionThe Nile is known as the lifeline of Egypt: Along its banks, the earth is fertile, and the river has connected the country’s major cities since Egypt’s ancient civilization originated thousands of years ago. Today, over 95% of the Egyptian population live on the narrow strip of land along the river, which only makes up around 5% of the country’s surface area. The rest consists of desert as far as the eye can see. Most people in Egypt, which is the most populous country in the Arab world, live in cities. In the country’s pulsating urban centres, space is tight, and community is central – sometimes overwhelmingly so. The five films in 22 Million don’t show idealized images touting a way of life that appears exotic to the global North. Instead, Egyptian filmmakers offer honest portrayals of their cities and their compatriots, affectionate yet candid looks at the challenges of living in close quarters. The clichés that Western viewers might expect are absent.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the opening film, a short by renowned director Youssef Chahine (born in Alexandria in 1926, died in Cairo in 2006). In «Cairo As Seen by Chahine», originally commissioned by French television, Chahine and his film students explicitly mock their sponsor’s expectations of an Egyptian film. At the same time, these are also the demands that the Egyptian state places on representations of the country for foreign viewers. At the premiere in Cannes in 1991, three Egyptian critics found the film offensive – they thought that its images of poverty, traffic, and cramped conditions in Cairo conveyed the wrong impression of the country. This prompted the Egyptian censorship board to demand the removal of certain scenes. Chahine refused, and the film was banned. The short is a tribute to the many individuals living their daily lives in this city.
«Cairography» resulted from a workshop with dancers who explored their relationship with the streets of Cairo. Each dance was performed in the street and filmed with a hidden camera aimed at capturing honest reactions. The dancers thus made the street their own, reclaiming public space. The clash between the personal and the public requires constant renegotiation.
The same is true in the historic ruins of Fustat in Cairo’s old town. «Al’Maw’oud» shows the tensions between government-appointed guards and the population of a nearby informal settlement, who use the area as a shortcut, playground, looting grounds, and living room extension.
In «As I Open My Eyes», the young filmmaker Ghazzal Abdullah captures Cairo’s urban metamorphosis with her camera. A personal film that underscores how much each narrative and each memory is subjective. A city of millions made up of millions of individuals.
Today, there are over 110 million Egyptians; in 2009, the number was around 80 million. The film «80 Million» by artists Mohamed Zayan and Eslam Zeen El Abedeen is a percussive dialogue, part tribute, part elegy for their compatriots.
Kuratiert von Laura Walde und Senta van de Weetering
Mit freundlicher Unterstützung von: 
