By Dina Demrdash, BBC Arabic, Cairo 8 December 2013 She's got comic strip superpowers, fights for justice and gives bad guys a hard time. If this makes you think of Catwoman, then think again - for this is a new kind of superheroine with a visible difference.
Meet Qahera - the hijab-wearing Egyptian comic-book character fighting back against crime and prejudice. She is the brainchild of a young Egyptian artist who created the first ever Egyptian superhero in a web comic, and its picking up a growing fanbase.
July 29, 2014 Column » Comics & Dialogue: Islam in Graphic Novels by A. DAVID LEWIS for ISLAMiCommentary Deena Mohamed, a nineteen-year-old Egyptian graphic design student, does more than draw or doodle: She is creating a legend. Based partially on her own and her friends’ experiences within Egyptian culture, Mohamed chose to combat sexism and harassment with her hijab-clad superheroine Qahera, whose online webcomic inches closer daily to nearly one-million viewers.
Omar Robert Hamilton Mada Masr, 2013-07-10 13:46 I am neither a supporter of Mohamed Morsi nor of the Egyptian military. To place oneself in either camp is to assert an allegiance to hierarchy, patriarchy, capitalism, secrecy and violence. The military and the Brotherhood are not two poles that encompass Egyptian society, they are two elitist organizations with vast domestic networks, international connections, opaque business interests and legions of foot soldiers. And yet, in the international press, readers are being repeatedly presented with this false binary.
Winner of the Muhr Arab Award for Best Director at the Dubai Intl Film Festival, Salma El-Tarzi’s feature documentary on unlikely music superstars, the 8%, will be shown in local cinemas 22-28 April 2015 Ahram Online , Sunday 19 Apr 2015 Salma El-Tarzi’s feature documentary on the world of Mahraganat (an emerging style of local music) follows some of the scene’s biggest stars, catching them at tipping point when their lives begin to transform as their fame explodes.
‘Underground/On the Surface' Mada Masr, Thursday, March 20, 2014 by Maha ElNabawi “We have four social segments in Egypt: the poorer than poor, the poor, the middle class and the upper class,” says Ortega from the back of a car in Cairo. “We are happy to be part of the poorer than poor, but we do and sing as we want.” The camera cuts to his bandmate Okka. “Do you know why our music is called shaabi?
By julietomlin March 30, 2011, Frontline Club British-Egyptian actor and producer Khalid Abdalla flew from London to Egypt soon after it became clear that the protests of 25 January were gathering momentum and was there for the Friday ‘Day of anger’ on 28 January. The Kite Runner star, whose other credits include Green Zone and In the Last Days of the City, was memorably interviewed from Tahrir Square by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow while his father Hossam Abdalla was in the studio.
February 26, 2014, Vice by Jared Malsin Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla is one of the chief protagonists in the documentary The Square, which was nominated earlier this month for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. His new film, In the Last Days of the City, is going to be even better. Last Days tells a story that roughly echoes Khalid's own life: It's the tale of a documentarian who is trying to make a film about his city, Cairo, and according to Khalid, "
Alaa and wife, Manal, with new baby in January 2012 On prisons as sites of violations, extremism and boredom
Friday, August 21, 2015 By Ahdaf Souief Alaa Abd El Fattah, outspoken software tecchie, blogger and political activist, has spoken to the media for the first time since he began serving his latest sentence at Tora Prison. Abd El Fattah is serving a five-year prison sentence for being at a civil gathering in front of the Shura Council in November 2013 to protest a constitutional provision allowing the military to court-martial civilians.
