Screening: In the Shadow of a Man + Q&A

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Hanan Abdalla, moderated by Yasmin El Derby.

In the wake of the Egyptian revolution, four women speak of their fight for the future and what it means to be a woman in Egypt. Although Wafaa, Suzanne, Shahinda and Badreya are each from vastly different backgrounds and generations, they are deeply connected by the current changes in Egypt.

Cutting across class and geography, In the Shadow of a Man weaves through their worlds as they tell their stories of marriage, divorce, love and resistance. The film mirrors their lives with Egypt’s greater struggle for freedom and self-determination. The title is derived from the Egyptian proverb, “In the shadow of a man, not in the shadow of a wall”, reflecting an Egyptian society whose customs have long favoured men over women.

Hanan Abdalla is a British-Egyptian freelance documentary filmmaker. Her first feature-length documentary In the Shadow of a Man, premiered at the Berlinale and won the Best Documentary Filmmaker Award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Her upcoming film is on women candidates running in Egypt’s first parliamentary elections after the fall of Mubarak.

Directed by Hanan Abdalla
Duration: 65′
Year: 2011

This screening is in partnership with The British Egyptian Society, promoting friendship and bilateral relations between the UK and Egypt in all fields – cultural, commercial, economic and educational – for the benefit of the community at large.