21 Years of Revolution
After the Revolution documents the street protests that took place in Bucharest in early 1990, capturing a moment of post-revolution anarchy in which people spoke without inhibition, cumulating in a disputed election. Laurentiu Caiciu, who shot the material on VHS in 1990, will discuss extracts of the film with producer Rupert Wolfe-Murray.
Mark Muller Stuart QC will present shorts from the Libyan Revolution with images from his visit to Benghazi in April and short films made by Libyan rebel youths. This will be followed by a discussion on Revolution and the Arab Spring, lead by Mark Muller Stuart.
This year’s film programme focuses on four small nations emerging from conflict: Palestine, Kurdish Iraq, Libya and Sri Lanka. In celebrating these cultures, we aim to create a vibrant international platform for cultural exchange and small nation dialogue in Scotland. Each film will be followed by a discussion featuring filmmakers and writers as they take questions from the audience and try to illuminate both the film, and the plight of each nation.
This event links with our posed exhibition ‘Graffiti of the Arab Spring’, to be displayed in the Edinburgh Filmhouse foyer.
A comment from the producer of After the Revolution
When Libya's revolution broke out I was writing for Time Magazine. I called the Europe/Middle East editor and asked if they would be interested in a comparison between the Romanian and Libyan revolutions. My offer was politely, but charmingly, refused and I was told that not many American readers even remember the Romanian revolution.
But I remained intrigued by the parallels between the way that Ghaddafi and Ceausescu were overthrown and, in Libya's case, what would come after. I covered Romania's bloody 1989 revolution for Scotland on Sunday and recently made a film called After the Revolution,, using our own footage from all those years ago. Back then I had no idea what would come after Romania's oppressive Communist regime but observing 20 years of corruption, suspicion, migration and political chaos I have a pretty good idea of what Libya can expect.
No sooner had I finished complaining about the media's lack of imagination in considering my brilliant thesis (that the Libyans and Romanians believed their revolution would usher in the land of milk and honey) when I ran into Mark Muller on a Scottish hillside. One thing led to another and to cut a long story short I ended up cutting a 20 minute version from our 80 minute film After the Revolution.
Mark arranged a special slot at Edinburgh's Filmhouse cinema with the plan of showing my Romania film and the material he had shot in Libya following his daring visit to Benghazi just “After the Revolution”. I hadn't seen Mark's footage and when I spoke to him a day before the event it was clear that he hadn't either (this is often the case with filmmakers; they shoot material and never see it again). Although someone was editing it he was worried that it would be an embarrassment and his amateur film-making skills would be exposed.
Fortunately it all turned out fine. My film was a selection from a proper documentary so it was easy to digest and people liked it. Mark's film – the one you can see here – was also appreciated, but for very different reasons.
Although it is roughly edited and has a voice-over that sounds a bit imperious at times, it has the feel of a home movie – in the best sense of the word. We've all seen the news footage coming out of Libya and the Middle East in the last year; on the one hand it is dramatic and rough in places but on the other it is professionally edited and short enough to be easily digested. In short, news footage is manufactured in that it's so heavily packaged and edited that we don't really see real life in the so-called Arab “street” at all.
Mark's film (I don't think it has a title) is wonderful in that it is one man's snapshot of what he saw when he visited Benghazi, literally a few weeks after their dramatic revolution. It gives you a real insight into how people look and what ordinary things are like. It also includes some inspiring photos of graffiti about Ghaddafi. Most people's home movies are so boring that one dreads being shown them, but what more could you ask for than a home movie from after Libya's revolution? I was inspired by it and wish that many of today's documentaries had this much verve and authenticity.
by Rupert Wolfe Murray
Six Days During the Arab Spring
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Ticket sales: The Filmhouse
Prices: £7.50 / £5.50 concessions
Venue address
Name: The Filmhouse
Street: 88 Lothian Road
City: Edinburgh
Postal Code: EH3 9BZ
Country: United Kingdom
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