With its Middle East Premiere in DIFF

½ Revolution in the World Cinema Documentary Competition in Sundance

Sundance Film Festival, which will take place during the period from the 19th to the 29th of January 2012, announced the selection of the Danish documentary ½ Revolution in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. ½ Revolution is a co-production between Danish Globus Film & the Egyptian company Prophecy Films making it the first Egyptian film production to be selected in the festival since it started, and the first Arab documentary in competition since the participation of the Jordanian documentary Recycle by Mahmoud Al Massad. ½ Revolution is directed by the Danish-Palestinian director Omar Shargawi and Egyptian-American director/dop Karim El Hakim.

½ Revolution is a personal, intimate story from the Arab Spring: a group of friends living in downtown Cairo struggle to stay together during the first chaotic days of the Egyptian Revolution. As waves of protests escalate in their neighborhood next to Tahrir Square, directors Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim take to the streets to capture the historical events unfolding around them. But as the violence and uncertainty builds, Karim and his young family's apartment becomes an epicenter of activity as worried friends and neighbors flock together in a bid to survive the counter punches thrown by police and the armed gangs of pro-Mubarak thugs swarming the streets under their balcony.

The result is a compelling human story told from inside the Revolution through a handheld, spontaneous string of stolen moments that make the viewer feel they too are on the ride of a lifetime.

Omar Shargawi considers ½ Revolution "An extremely rich personal experience that has changed a lot in me on the human, personal and professional level. When it came to ½ Revolution we had to record what was happening despite the dangers we faced on a daily basis. Egypt is a country that I identify with, that's why I established a production company in it, and I'm planning on directing another film in Cairo."

The Middle East premiere of ½ Revolution is planned to take place during the 8th Dubai International Film Festival, as it is being screened in the Muhr Arab Documentary competition. This is Omar Shargawi's second participation in DIFF after his participation in last year's festival with his documentary My Father from Haifa, which won the Muhr Arab Special Jury Prize for documentaries and the audience prize before it started its worldwide tour. Omar directed his first film in 2008, the feature film Go with Peace Jamil, which among many awards won the Tiger award at Rotterdam Film festival in 2008 and was quite successful in Danish theatres placing as one of the most innovative films in recent Danish history. Currently Omar is working on his second feature film, which he is going to shoot in the first half of 2012.

Karim El Hakim deals with ½ Revolution as if "It really became something of a duty. I am a very privileged Egyptian. I have an education, I know how to handle a camera well, I speak a few languages. It became something we had to do, even though it was dangerous. And in a way it was also the adrenalin rush of being in this kind of protest and uprising." Karim is a renowned director of photography and director Arab world and internationally, His camera work as a D.O.P. has contributed to numerous award-winning political documentaries about the Middle East including My Trip To Al Qaeda (2010), Giran (2009), and Egypt We are Watching You (2008). He was also a contributing editor on Control Room (2004). In addition to his documentary work, Karim was the D.O.P. of Al Jama3a (The University), a groundbreaking 15 part Arabic drama series first shown on MBC4. Karim is active in the Cairo independent film community and has lensed a handful of award-winning Egyptian short films, including Ein Semeka (Fisheye), Miraculum, and Beit Min Lahm (House of Flesh), which earned him the Egyptian State Prize for Best Cinematography in 2006.

½ Revolution is the first film that considers the 25th of January revolution an incomplete revolution, which has been proven by the latest events in Egypt. The film's name was decided on from the first days of its shooting, where Omar and Karim considered that the title reflects on what happened to the ongoing Egyptian revolution. The film's team is currently working on the film's website which is going to be the first of its kind for a documentary film about the revolution.

½ Revolution is a co-production between Danish Globus Film and Egyptian Prophecy Films which was founded by Omar and Karim in 2010. The film was made with the support of the Danish Film Institute, produced by Carsten Holst from Globus and Level K is the international sales agent. Prophecy films is currently working with Cairo based MAD Solutions on a new venture, focusing on building bridges between European and Arab cinema.

Both the directors Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim will be present at Dubai International Film Festival from the 8th till the 15th of December.

½ Revolution Screening in Dubai International Film Festival

Saturday December 10 | 5:30 PM | VOX Cinema 6 | Mall of the Emirates
Monday December 12 | 2:45 PM | VOX Cinema 1 | Mall of the Emirates