Last spring, a wave of rioting swept through many parts of the Arab world. People stood up against suppressive regimes and demanded a change. This section displays a fraction of filmmakers’ responses to the ongoing revolution. The films presented are
Babylon,
18 Days and
No More Fear.
Babylon tells of more than 500,000 people from about twenty different nationalities that have crossed the border between Tunisia and Libya to escape the fighting between revolutionaries and Gaddafi’s army. Pending their repatriation to their respective countries, they settled first in refugee camps in Tunisia, where an unusual sense of community takes shape.
To make
18 Days, a group of ten directors, twenty or so actors, six writers, eight directors of photography, eight sound engineers, five set designers, three costume designers, seven editors, three post-production companies, and about ten technicians agreed to act fast and shoot, with no budget and on a voluntary basis, ten short films about the January 25 revolution in Egypt. Ten stories they have experienced, heard or imagined. Poverty, corruption, pride and unity run through the ten storylines, but all, in keeping with the spirit of the revolution, convey a sense of hope.
In
No More Fear, a character in the film Suffering from Tunisia’s ills, says: “This revolution is not the result of destitution, but rather a cry of despair rising from a generation of graduates. It is neither the bread nor the jasmine revolution…
Jasmine does not result in death, does not give rise to martyrs. It’s the revolution of a people’s devotion. We shall never again have any fear for this new Tunisia!” This comment perfectly summarizes Tunisian’s frame of mind. That of the youth who made the first revolution of the virtual era, as well as the older people who always defied fear in order to resist the yoke of dictatorship.