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CANNES, France, May 17, 2012 (AFP)
Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah, in Cannes with a drama on his country’s revolution, on Thursday said the Islamists jockeying for power back home would never succeed in stifling art.
“Our presence here in Cannes is a wonderful message to all those who want to put an end to art in Egypt,” he told reporters after a press screening of “After the Battle” at the Riviera film festival.
Egypt’s artists and liberals are concerned that the Islamists who have emerged as the strongest political force in the new Egypt will seek to stifle artistic freedom.
Veteran director Nasrallah’s two-hour film focuses on the messy aftermath of last year’s Arab Spring, when Cairo’s Tahrir Square was the epicentre of a revolt that led to the ousting of long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak.
“After the Battle” kicks off with what came to be known as the Battle of the Camel, when men on horses and camels charged into the crowd of protestors.
It then homes in on one of the riders, anti-revolutionary Mahmoud, played by Bassem Samra, and his interaction with a middle-class, free-thinking young woman called Reem, played by Mena Shalaby.
The film touches on issues like class, gender and corruption and provides a portrait of the people of Nazlet, who live in the shadow of the pyramids and traditionally made their living off the tourist trade that dried up after the revolution.
