"I never thought I'd find myself filming a story about the police in my country. Or that I would get this close to one of them." (Director, from the film)
The story is about the dissolution of a country. The narrator is a policeman.
Whose Country? is a young Egyptian filmmaker's heartbroken personal story of the downfall of his homeland, beginning right after the Tahrir Square revolution. Whose Country? unfolds layer by layer as it proceeds. We witness the turbulent events following the revolution under the guidance of a Cairo policeman. And what an unguided guidance it is! His status and narrative change in accordance with the changes in power -- the fall of Mubarak, the rise and fall of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and the rise of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. A sense of doubt and unease is inescapable while watching the film: however much his testimony reflects a painful and harsh reality, his politics and motivations are at best fickle. This in fact is what makes this documentary so real: just like the director, and millions of other people with compromised lives, we're constantly at a loss as to what the truth is, and what solution may emerge.
2016 HOTDOCS, KARLOVY VARY, IDFA
Director, producer and cinematographer Mohamed Siam studied psychology before making films. He received several international grants in support of his film projects, including from Sundance Institute. Whose Country? (2016) is Siam's feature directorial debut.
