Born on the 25th January

A documentary directed by Ahmed Rashwan.

It kind of goes against the grain for me to sit still at 10am, let alone go and watch a film! But that is what I did this morning. As there are only 3 days left of the Luxor African Film Festival, I had to go and see this film, drawn purely by the title alone. (Today was also the 25th. One year and one month ago, The Egyptian Revolution broke the barriers)

I was here for the Revolution and experienced the effects of it. We did not see the violence and the demonstrations that Cairo had. Watching the news, did not even give us the whole picture; partly because of the language barrier and maybe because the reports were from the reporters view? Scenes filmed by this Director are so different from a reporters eye and what we saw on the television. One powerful scene for me, was a man praying on the Egyptian flag, another the wounded, the camaraderie of the people.

This was filmed from Ahmeds eyes, what he, his family and his friends experienced, saw and felt over those weeks. It was so powerful, thought provoking and emotional. The Egyptian people wanted change so much, they came together and transformed their Country for their future.

Below are some of the words people chanted in Tahrir Square and feelings they expressed to Ahmed as he filmed.

'Stand still, stand together'

'I am part of a legendary scene, that I could not have dreamt of'

'People demand the downfall of the regime'

'Freedom - We did it. Egypt, Egypt!'

'We did it for the coming generation'

'The Revolution is for the blood of the Egyptians'

'In Tahrir, there is equality. Muslims and Coptics together'

'True victory is the people that voted'

'We broke the barrier of terror'

'The old regime made me feel a failure, my son blamed me for his life. I have searched for 30 years for the Salad Ad Din Our youth are the Salah Ad Din'

I walked out of the Conference Hall, drew in a deep breath and smelt the Egyptian air. I feel so proud of what the people did to free their Egypt, now, we all look to the future.