Winter of Discontent DVD & Download

Winter of Discontent (El sheita elli fat) is set against the momentous backdrop of the whirlwind protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, beginning on January 25th, 2011. Activist Amr, journalist Farah, and State Security officer Adel experience a shifting reality in the days and nights leading up to the resignation of President Mubarak. As the stories of these characters unfold, they are propelled headlong into the heady, often surreal atmosphere of terror, uncertainty, and mass euphoria that surrounded those days that shaped history.

Orizzonti, Venice International Film Festival 2012

London Film Festival 2012

Best Actor, Dubai Film Festival 2012

Special Mention, Cairo Internaitonal Film Festival 2012

Critics Award and Special Mention, Cine' Med Montpellier

Amazon Video

Ibrahim El-Batout was born in Port-Said in 1963. In 1985, he graduated in Physics from the American University in Cairo. His infatuation with the camera started at the Video Cairo Production House, where he worked as a cameraman and editor.
From 1987 to 2004, he directed, produced and filmed documentaries in conflict areas for international TV channels. He shot over 29 documentaries and won a number of international awards. In 2004, after being shot twice, El-Batout left the trauma of wars behind and returned to Egypt to make it his home base once again. He decided to challenge censorship, sidestep shooting permissions with their long and bureaucratic process, and work with first time actors and crew. He wrote, directed and produced his first fiction feature film, Ithaki, in 2005. In 2007, he co-wrote and directed Ein Shams (Eye of the Sun), the first independently financed film to get commercial distribution in Egypt. This new economical model of producing films in Egypt gave hope to many young and talented filmmakers to realize their dreams and make their own films rather than wait for funding from big producers or go through the heavily censored and bureaucratic film industry. Winter of Discontent is his latest film.

Filmography

Feature Films

2012 Ali The Goat (Ali Meaza ) - in development

2011 Winter of Discontent (El Sheita Elli Fat)

2010 The Juggler (Hawy)

2008 The Eye of the Sun (Ein Shams)

2005 Ithaki

Documentaries

2007 I am a Refugee in Cairo (Al Jazeera International)

2006 26 Seconds in Pakistan (Islamic Relief Foundation)

2004 Baghdad (ZDF)

2003 Mass Graves in Iraq (ZDF)

2002 Drug Addiction in Kuwait (ZDF)

2002 Pilgrimage to Mecca (ZDF)

2001 The River that Connects Future EC Countries (ZDF)

2001 Three German Women Living in Gaza (WDR Germany)

2000 A Day of an Ambulance Driver in Ramallah, Palestine (ZDF)

1999 Nagib Mahfouz: Passage du siècle (ARTE)

1999 The War in Kosovo (ZDF)

1998 The Beginning of the War in Kosovo (ZDF)

1996 Slavery in Southern Sudan (ZDF)

1996 Taliban: War Against El Mazar El Sharif (ZDF)

1995 The Victim of a War that Ended - Bosnia (ARTE)

1995 The Fall of Mubuto Sese Seko of Zaire (ZDF)

1994 The War in Chechnya (ZDF)

1994 Massacres in Rwanda (ZDF)

1994 Female Circumcision in Ethiopia (ZDF)

1994 The Divided City of Mostar (ARTE)

1992 The Fall of the Communist Regime in Afghanistan (ABC)

1992 The Last Days of the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) Camp in Lebanon (CBS)

1992 The War in Somalia (ABC)

1992 The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka (Channel 4 UK)

1991 Among the First Three TV Crews to Enter Liberated Kuwait (TBS Japan)

1991 Kurdish Refugees in the Turkish and Iranian Mountains (TVAM UK)

1988 Czhachescow's Downfall in Romania (NTV Japan)

1988 The Fall of the Iranian Plane Hit by an American Missile (NHK Japan)

1987 Iran-Iraq War (NHK Japan)

Amr Amr Waked

Adel Salah Al-Hanafy

‘No other film about the Arab Spring is as apt as Ibrahim El Batout’s. It lays bare the police state under President Mubarak and deals with the life of an opposition activist (Amr Waked), one of many whose bravery led to the heady events of Tahrir Square. Powerfully dramatic but never melodramatic, the film is well worth seeking out.’

Derek Malcolm, The Evening Standard

'Ibrahim El-Batout delivers a searing account of the root causes of the Egyptian revolution with this hard-hitting political thriller...Arguably the most dramatically satisfying and fully-realised cinematic account to date dealing with Egypt’s turbulent developments, dominated by a quietly powerful performance from Amr Waked as an opposition activist.'
Ali Jaafar, London Film Festival Catalogue

‘Ibrahim al-Batout’s portrayal of the Egyptian uprising exposes a version of events that is both stark and uplifting…The story of Egypt’s 18 day revolution through three people: an activist, a journalist and a state security officer.’

Suranjana Tewari, Al Jazeera

‘For over a decade El Batout has been one of the few independent Egyptian filmmakers working outside bureaucracy and censorship. Preparations for Winter… began in early February 2011, in the final days of the uprising. First screened a year ago, it looked like a brave and nuanced attempt to find a perspective on dramatic recent history, though the prism of the personal. Today the relevance of the director's endeavour looks all the more vital.’

Tom Birchenough, The Arts Desk

Read the full review

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