Middle East Film Festival: Revolution
We Are Egypt

We Are Egypt is a documentary directed and narrated by Lillie Paquette. It shows a personal account of the Egyptian opposition politics in the year before the January/February 2011 revolution that led to the resignation of dictator-president Hosni Mubarak. This film is based on informal interactions of Paquette with young Egyptian democracy activists, as she shadowed their opposition movement before the uprising. It aims to get the average viewer to understand how the revolution happened and why opposition parties are still fighting.

Egypt was under strict authoritarian rule by Mubarak and his National Democratic Party (NDP) for over 30 years. Mubarak's government had the support of the West and a continuation of annual aid from the US by maintaining policies of suppression towards Islamic militants and peace with Israel. However, the people of Egypt were paying a high price for Mubarak’s dictatorial rule, and they were tired of it. They were angry at the upcoming election, as Mubarak was grooming his son to succeed him. Many believed that the previous elections had been rigged, which resulted in the over 30 years reign of Mubarak. He was the only candidate to run for the presidency in the elections before 2005. Ayman Nour, the only recent opposing presidential candidate and the leader of the El-Ghad Party or The Tomorrow Party shown in the film, was imprisoned for four and a half years before the 2005 elections. The legal and political issues that the opposition movement focused on include state of emergency laws, police brutality, lack of free elections and freedom of speech, and government corruption. The economic issues include high unemployment, low wages, and food price inflation. The Egyptian protesters demanded the end of Mubarak regime. Among their activism approaches, they used social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to promote their