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
Film-maker Amal Ramsis was born 1972 in Cairo, Egypt. While studying law, she set up the Women’s Study Centre »Ma’an« (Together). From 2002 to 2005 she studied film directing in Madrid. Three years later Ms Ramsis founded the Cairo International Women’s Film Festival, the first women’s film festival in the Arab countries. She also heads the international workshop programme Correspondence between Women. She works as a documentary film-maker, journalist and writer on the situation of Arab women and political affairs in Egypt. In her most recent documentary The Trace of the Butterfly (2014), Ms Ramsis accompanied Mary Daniel – the sister of student Mina Daniel, the hope of his generation, who was killed in 2011 – on a journey through Egypt’s revolution.
Films by Amal Ramsis (Selection)
Life 2008 | Just Dreams 2005 | Plató 2005 | Silence 2005 | Beirut Is on the Seaside 2002
