Two days ago, a Sudanese woman was brutally shot in the head three times while trying to reach the other side of the rainbow, and make it into “the promised land. News flash: Egypt’s got a refugee problem; and if you spoke to the refugees themselves – as two young documentary makers have done – you might even call it a crisis.
Couched between two continents where civil war plagues hundreds of thousands, Egypt is a natural haven for those who have nowhere else to go.
But we all know it’s not just about numbers, which inevitably effect the economics of a country, but the myriad of socio-psycho- complexes that dog a closed society reluctantly opening its doors to “the other.
Despite the preponderance of academe dialectics on this neat genre seemingly plucked from the drawers of socio-babble, “the other is a fact of life. On Wednesday evening, Tadamon – the Egyptian Refugee Multicultural Council – launched a press conference featuring two documentaries to raise awareness of its “Living Together project.
Mohammed Shawky, former AUC student, journalist and social worker, decided to make a documentary about refugees after attending World Refugee Day at the American University Cairo last June. He approached the band playing and went on to put them at the center of a short documentary.
VIP is a theater and song group, formed when their church wanted them to take part in the service on working days. Instead they formed their own group, as an artistic outlet to release societal pressures.
Punctuated by heavy bouts of hip hop, Shawky tempers lighthearted scenes of dance with brief discussions about racism, the definition of refugees and gang culture. It’s a simple formula which doesn’t pretend to be more than it is: A portrayal of a group of young refugees, Sudanese migrants and an Egyptian national who have eschewed gang culture in favor of more dramatic climes.
“We’ve performed in the opera, at schools and churches, Regan, a VIP performer told Daily News Egypt. “We prefer to make our performances fun and bring in some comedy.
But Regan’s affable persona, along with the schooldays type portrayal of the theater group, belies a darker reality barely touched on in the documentary.
His arm is still in a supportive cast two months after members of a gang, having heard about his onscreen activities, broke into his home stealing the contents in their entirety and leaving him in a coma for two days.
“We made a report to the police, said Hamada, “But of course they didn’t do anything, they look to the Sudanese and say, leave them to themselves.
So how far can documentary-making change the perceptions that really need changing? The Living Together project press conference was populated by a mixture of NGO workers and foreign and AUC educated students, and the odd press body – basically those who already regard the plight of marginalized communities with sympathy and understanding.
The second documentary aired was the work of Juliana Tafur. Contrasting sharply with Shawky’s light production, “Rightful but Rightless is an in-depth expose into the precarious legal situation of Sudanese refugees in Egypt. On paper, as Tarfur explains, refugees are entitled to refuge, relocation on the part of the UNHCR as well as housing, welfare and education. In reality, due to legal and practical loopholes, most receive none of these.
Unlike Shawky’s 12-minute snapshot of a performing arts group, Tarfur’s work is over 25 minutes long, and there is a feeling that she tried to cram information within an allocated time. Tackling what is essentially an academic issue; the subject matter deserved an hour, with clearer and slower narrative to aid audience absorption. As it is, it remains visually dry with information overload.
Tarfur’s decision to keep her own questioning as part of the documentary also dulls the emotional impact, an imperative for a powerful documentary.
The voice-overs as well as interviews are conducted in English without Arabic subtitling, which begs the question of who exactly this is directed at.
Documentary making has become somewhat of a fashion- it’s a bit like a coming of age for the creative academic (it also looks damn good on CVs).
It’s artistic worth can only be measured in its capacity as a vehicle for social change, and that means changing those who otherwise wouldn’t be – as yet, therefore, the jury’s still out on both counts.
