Documentary

The Trials Of Spring

The International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) will present 'The Trials Of Spring', a documentary on women, war and social change in the during Arab Spring at the ICES Auditorium, , 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8, tomorrow, February 29 at 4:30 p.m.

Directed by Gini Reticker, the 90-minute documentary, while built around the 2011 uprisings that swept the Arab world and the women who were on the frontlines, focuses on the trials of a young Egyptian woman who travels from her village to Cairo to add her voice to the tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding an end to 60 years of military rule. Hend Nafea's story, which mirrors the trajectory of the Arab Spring-from the ecstasy of newfound courage to the agony of shattered dreams, sees her arrested, beaten, and tortured by security forces and later punished and imprisoned by her family for daring to speak out. Unbreakable, she sets out in a search for freedom and social justice in a country in the grips of a power struggle, where there is little tolerance for the likes of her. In the end, despite crushing setbacks, it is resilience that sustains the hope for reform even in the darkest hours of repression.