Slipping: Skate's Impact on Egypt

This documentary screened at the 2012 New Hampshire Film Festival in Portsmouth, NH where it was well attended and well received. Brett Saunders' film focuses on the Herrawi brothers in Alexandria, Egypt who tell the story of how they helped to start the skate boarding movement in Egypt. What makes the film poignant and moving is that the young men who are telling the story of how skate boarding changed their lives are speaking against the backdrop of the overthrow of the Egyptian government. Saunders was making this film when the protests began and told us after the screening that he lived in an apartment on Tahrir Square where he saw the bloodshed first hand. Just as protesters in Tiananmen Square stood up to their government a generation ago, Egyptian youth stood up to their government inspired by Western ideals and yes, skate boarding. Saunders' film is an important contribution to the story of modern Egypt and the Arab Spring.