''Jews of Egypt'' ( ar, عن يهود مصر) is an Egyptian documentary film produced by Haitham Al-Khamissi and directed by Amir Ramses. The film is also co-written and researched by Mostafa Youssef. It documented the history of the Jewish people in Egypt.Elkamel, Sara.
'Jews of Egypt' tells story of Egypt's exiled Jewish community
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Al-Ahram Weekly ''Al-Ahram Weekly'' is an English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt. History and profile ''Al Ahram Weekly'' was established in 1991 by the ''Al-Ahram'' newspaper, which also runs a French-langu ...

''. Monday 25 February 2013. Retrieved on 9 April 2013. Alastair Beach of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' said that the film was " lled as the first film of this kind to be allowed out on general release".Beach, Alastair.
Exodus: Fall of the Jews in Egypt
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''. Sunday 21 March 2013. Retrieved on 9 April 2013.

Content

The film covers the Jewish involvement in Egyptian business and arts in the first half of the 20th century. It then mentions the founding of Israel in 1948, the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

in 1956. Due to the crisis, the Jews of Egypt were forced into exile. People giving testimonials in the film include exiled Egyptian Jews, most of whom lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

; Mohamed Abu El-Ghar, the author of ''Jews of Egypt: From Prosperity to Diaspora''; a member of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

who had participated in an attack of Jewish shops in Egypt in 1947; and Essam Fawzi, a sociologist.

Production

Director Amir Ramses said that he had considered making the film for several years. Ramses and producer Haitham Al-Khamissi self-funded the film, believing that relying on a sponsor, whether the sponsor was Arab or not, would hamper the neutrality of the film. Ramses took a six month trip to prepare for making the film. Ramses began conducting research in late 2008. Research consisted of locating and interviewing Jews within Egypt, building a "historical skeleton," and then obtaining print media, videos, and other archival material. Film shooting began in 2009. The

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

caused work on the film to be suspended. In the meantime the director and his group took a trip to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. Work on the film was made for one additional year until the September 2012 completion.

Release

The avant-première occurred in October 2012 during the Panorama of the European Film. Amir Ramses said that the premiere took place in a "blatantly intellectual context." It was screened at the northern hemisphere winter 2012 Arab Camera Festival in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

and the January 2013

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

. In the first week of March 2013 the film was scheduled for screening in theatres in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. On Wednesday March 13, 2013, producer Haitham El-Khameesy said that the Censorship Bureau officials did not issue a permit for a release of his film in Egyptian cinemas and that they requested to view the film before they could allow its screening.

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

said that security source told them that the permit had been granted and that it had not prevented its screening. The film's Egyptian cinema screening was ultimately scheduled for 27 March 2013.

Reception

In 2013 Sara Elkamel of ''

Al Ahram Weekly ''Al-Ahram Weekly'' is an English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt. History and profile ''Al Ahram Weekly'' was established in 1991 by the ''Al-Ahram'' newspaper, which also runs a French-langua ...

'' said "So far, the film has been attacked sporadically in the press, mostly in the form of 'normalization with Israel' accusations, but the filmmaker has not received death threats or direct attacks." After the Egyptian government canceled the screening of the film, Khaled Diab, an Egyptian-Belgian blogger, journalist, and writer, produced an opinion piece in ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' in which he argued that "This damages the push-back against strong anti-Jewish sentiment gripping the country, while failing to remind Egyptians of a past era of diversity and tolerance." Ada Aharoni, the editor of "The Golden Age of the Jews From Egypt," said "This film claimed Jews had it good in Egypt and left only to America and France, not Israel — and still it was banned."Liphshiiz, Canaan.
Egyptian Jews record more recent ‘second Exodus’
" () ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.

''. 25 March 2013. Retrieved on 9 April 2013.

References

External links

*
Jews of Egypt
' official website *
بيان من أسرة فيلم عن يهود مصر
" * * Razek, Rami Abdel (رامي عبد الرازق)
عن يهود مصر».. ليس فيلماً عن التاريخ بل عن الحاضر
" (."
Archive
''

Al-Masry Al-Youm ''Al-Masry Al-Youm'' ( ar, المصري اليوم ', , meaning ''The Egyptian Today'') is an Egyptian privately owned daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Arabic as is its website, ''almasryalyoum.com''. An ...

''. Wednesday 3 April 2013. *
مخرج فيلم "عن يهود مصر": نقدم صورة للهوية المصرية
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CNN Arabic CNN Arabic ( ar, سي إن إن بالعربية) is a news website located in Dubai launched on 19 January 2002. Part of the CNN network, it provides international news in the Arabic language, with continuous updates on regional and internatio ...