“Uprising’ makes clear [...] what may have seemed a spontaneous protest by millions against the oppressive [...] rule [...] of Mubarak.”
“Uprising takes a clear, cohesive approach to the spontaneous events at its center”
“4 Stars”
“...the rebellion (is) laid out in absorbing, you-are-there fashion in the documentary...”
“...few viewers will fail to be moved”
Uprising is the authoritative, behind-the scenes account of the Egyptian revolution.
In January 2011, millions of Egyptians took to the streets in a spontaneous eruption against thirty years of oppression under the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Communicating via Facebook and Twitter, the largely peaceful protesters braved tear gas, beatings, and live bullets in the hope of facing down security forces and overthrowing the government. Over eight hundred lost their lives, and several thousand were arrested and tortured by security forces.
Produced by an Academy Award-winning team including the Executive Producer of Taxi to the Dark Side and the Editor of Inside Job, UPRISING tells the story of the Egyptian revolution from the perspective of its leadership and key organizers, their struggle for freedom against tremendous odds, their sacrifice, and the courage and ingenuity that allowed them to succeed. Featuring major figures including four Nobel Peace Prize nominees, several Egyptian presidential candidates, the former foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, and former US Ambassadors and White House officials, along with never before seen footage, UPRISING provides the authoritative behind-the scenes view of one of the most dramatic events of our generation.
Many of those profiled were arrested, some were tortured, several were shot. All of them describe it as the most meaningful and rewarding event of their lives. The film explores the frustrations that had built for decades, the role of social media in unleashing the revolution, the youth and courage that changed a nation, and the implications for the future. Their success in forcing the downfall of the regime, one of the most significant foreign policy developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall, has changed the face of the Middle East and provided hope for millions of oppressed people across the world.
The Egyptian revolution was unique, in its use of technology, in its youth, and in its scale. It happened at the heart of a region that is especially important and fragile. Above all, it is a story of profound hope, of courage rewarded, of a people who in a spontaneous, peaceful eruption beat back a police state and threw off the shackles of decades of degradation and oppression.
In addition to unprecedented access to and insights from key revolutionary leaders, the story also incorporates gripping, never before seen footage from the front lines of the action that viscerally convey the excitement, uncertainty, chaos, and sacrifices as what began as celebratory protests turned into life and death clashes with Mubarak?s security forces.
Director Fredrik Stanton is a John C. Whitehead Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association and the author of Great Negotiations: Agreements that Changed the Modern World. He has appeared on C-Span?s Washington Journal and Voice of America, and his writing has been published in the Washington Post.com, Forbes.com, Politico, the Boston Herald and the United Nations Association?s A Global Agenda. The former president and publisher of the Columbia Daily Spectator, he has served as an election monitor in Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Azerbaijan.