The Trace of the Butterfly
Amal Ramsis
»I filmed The Trace of the Butterfly for three years. The circumstances changed more than once, and sometimes I felt it was alright to film in the streets, other times I felt no, it’s not acceptable, including the Muslim Brotherhood period.«
– Amal Ramsis
October 9, 2011: armed security forces attack peaceful demonstrators in Cairo. During the clashes of the so-called Maspero massacre, 20-year-old Mina Daniel dies alongside 26 other Coptic Christians. For many demonstrators, Daniel had been their great hope for the future, the Che Guevara of the Egyptian revolution. For his sister Mary, Mina’s death meant not only the end of a life, but also the start of something new. Over a period of two years, Mary Daniel is accompanied by the director on a journey through Egypt’s revolution. She documents years full of frustration and triumph, even more deaths and the oppressive grief of the victims who somehow still appear to be present. The protagonist Mary symbolises the attempts to achieve freedom, awakening hope in the days of the revolution and giving new courage to many young Egyptians.
»The Trace of the Butterfly is the story of people crossing our lives, then leaving, only for us to discover, after a while, that they have reformulated our beings.«
– Amal Ramsis
Amal Ramsis
Amal Ramsis, geboren 1972 in Kairo, ist ägyptische Filmemacherin. Während ihres Jurastudiums gründete sie das Women‘s Study Center „Ma‘an“ (Gemeinsam). Von 2002 – 2005 studierte sie in Madrid Filmregie. Drei Jahre später gründete Ramsis das Cairo International Women’s Film Festival, das erste Frauenfilmfestival in den arabischen Ländern. Sie arbeitet als Dokumentarfilmregisseurin und Publizistin, und schreibt über die Situation arabischer Frauen und die politische Lage in Ägypten. Ihre Filme Only Dreams (2005), Life (2008) und Forbidden (2011) wurden weltweit auf renommierten Festivals gezeigt und mehrfach ausgezeichnet. In ihrem aktuellen Dokumentarfilm The Trace of the Butterfly (2014) begleitet Ramsis Mary Daniel, die Schwester des 2011 getöteten Studenten Mina Daniel – Hoffnungsträger seiner Generation – auf einer Reise durch Äygptens Revolution.
Filme von Amal Ramsis (Auswahl)
Life 2008 | Just Dreams 2005 | Plató 2005 | Silence 2005 | Beirut Is on the Seaside 2002
