< The Daily Beast, KICKASS COMICS 09.22.13 Meet Egypt's newest comic superheroine: she wears a hijab, she has special powers, and she really, really doesn't like to be sexually harassed. On a fine Egyptian day, a woman who walks alone in the street is harassed by a man who has been following her. “Nice curves, gorgeous,” he says, before his hand reaches for her bottom. The woman turns around, and in shock, she screams “Stop him.
Muftah , September 23rd, 2013 In Muftah’s on-going podcast series, we speak with Deena Mohamed, the creator of Qahera, a hijabi super-heroine who combats Islamophobia and misogyny. Since publishing the first iteration of Qahera in June of 2013, Deena has received an overwhelmingly positive response to the comic strip, which is published in both English and Arabic. A look at some of the Qahera comic strips created so far makes clear that this hijabi superheroine is challenging perceptions about Islam, women, and the hijab, and breaking down cultural, social, and gender-based assumptions inside and outside the Middle East.
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.
Salma El-Tarzi Translated by Robin Moger This essay reflects on a number of issues from the perspective of a filmmaker who has been deeply involved in the events unfolding in Egypt since January 2011. The issues in question concern the creative input of translators and the extent of their ownership of a work to which they have contributed voluntary labour, how and why subtitles may be taken into consideration from the very beginning of the process of making a film or a video, and the ethical contours of the activist filmmaker/subtitler relationship.
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?
ABC News, Broadcast: 15/02/2011 Reporter: Mark Corcoran At 33, Salma el Tarzi has never known any other leader. Hosni Mubarak has ruled Egypt with such ruthless authority many call him The Last Pharaoh and very few dared to do anything other than quietly comply with his administration. Criticism, dissent even whispered disagreement would risk attracting the attention of Mubarak’s henchmen, summary imprisonment, torture, even death.
Now all those years of resentment and bottled up rage have exploded.
