17 May April 2015, 7pm
Waiting for the return from the mountain
(34 min. Documentary. Arabic, with English subtitles. 2014)
Director: Bassam Mortada
Executive Producer: C Media for Artistic & Documentary Productions
The talk will be in Arabic

Waiting for the Return from the Mountain is a film about the struggle for economic and social rights by quarry workers in El Menya, Egypt. Limestone quarries are the main economic activity in the region with a minimum of 25’000 adults and children working in this informally organized industry.
The film tells the story of 16 year old Baskaroun and his family as well as the efforts of local activists to organize and increase workers’ rights. Baskaroun and his brothers are all quarry workers. The reality of their working situation is harsh yet some of their struggles are successful and determination for change is very strong. The film focuses on documenting this reality and highlights the workers movement in the informal sector and the dynamics of self-organization.

The screening, presentation and discussion will address the contents of the film as well as questions around the representation of workers struggles in still and moving image documentary practices. Besides this, the evening will look into the process of collaboration between two artists working with different visual mediums: Mohamed Ali Eddin, photographer and researcher of the film and Bassam Mortada who directed the documentary. The screening and conversation comes as part of two evenings that discuss documentary practices and collaborations between photographers and filmmakers.