Je suis le peuple

Seven hundred kilometres south of Cairo, the overthrow of Mubarak is little more than a TV event. In a nameless village in the Nile Valley, time seems to stand eternally still. At first it doesn’t look as if the revolution taking place in the heart of power will change anything.
In shots that often have a painterly quality, Anna Roussillon – who grew up in Cairo – records the reality ignored by most news reports: that of the large rural population of Egypt. Failing water pumps and rebellious agricultural pets shape the mood of the day, while as presidential elections approach, politics increasingly finds its way into the open-hearted conversations Roussillon has with several villagers. Through their dreams, disappointments, doubts and questions, the documentary I Am the People provides a surprisingly clear view from the countryside – where collective action has shaped the survival of the community for generations – of events far away in Tahrir Square.

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