Electro Chaabi

A new craze is taking over the Arab world’s most populous nation: Electro Chaabi. Inspired by the down-and-dirty music played at street parties and weddings, this new populist dance form combines the punk spirit with a hip hop attitude set against a furious cascade of drums, bass and electronic vocals. Meddeb's documentary focuses on some ghetto stars, from Islam Chipsy reinventing psychedelic trance to the revolutionary anthems of MC Sadat and Amr Haha. Unheard during the time of Mubarak, they upload their music on YouTube to make their voices heard throughout Egypt and beyond, with their lyrics often laughing at their misery and oppressors coexisting at times uneasily with the also widely broadcast words of religious preachers.

Director's Biography
Hind Meddeb, born 1978, is a Franco-Tunisian documentary filmmaker, journalist and television reporter. She studied politics and philosophy before becoming a journalist for French radio and television, constantly traveling between France, North Africa and the Middle East for her work. Hind’s first award-winning film was DE CASA AU PARADIS (Casablanca: One-Way Ticket to Paradise, 2008, doc), which explored the tragedy of the 2003 Casablanca bombings. ELECTRO CHAABI (2013, doc) is her second film. It premiered at London Film Festival 2013.
European Panorama Documentary 2014
Hind Meddeb
France / Egypt 2013
color
77 minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay Hind Meddeb
Cinematography Hind Meddeb, Omar Khodier
Editing Gilles Bovon
Sound/Sounddesign Salma Barouni
Production
IPS 4 Rue de Nevers 75006 Paris France T / F +33 9 52 88 27 47 karimboutrosghali@free.fr www.int.prod.services.tripod.com Koproduktion / Co-Production Studio Masr (EG)