Nada's Revolution

Filmmaker Claudia Lisboa spent four years with her Egyptian subject, Nada Ahmed. Nada's goals might not seem so unusual if she lived in the West, but the 27-year-old works in the theater and intends to marry on her own schedule. Nada grew up in Saudi Arabia, where women were encouraged to spend most of their time at home. She was living in Cairo in 2011 when the country rose up against President Mubarak. Her mother, Eglal, misses the devout girl that Nada was in her younger days (Nada no longer wears the hijab, and she refuses to talk about her father, so it's unclear what happened to him). Eglal has tried to fix Nada up with prospective husbands—including a member of the Muslim Brotherhood—but Nada has no interest in an arranged marriage. As she tells a friend, "It's weird to marry a stranger." Nada majored in education at the University of Alexandria, and she directs a youth theater group working on a musical about the revolution that features animal costumes and hip-hop numbers, although it takes her awhile to find an investor to back the project. After a falling out with her flatmates, Nada has to couch-surf for several months. In the meantime, she falls in love with Mahmoud, but the closer they inch towards marriage, the more controlling he becomes. By the end, however, Nada has found a way to continue to do the work she loves, patriarchal culture be damned. A solid portrait of an independent woman, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)