"Fountains of the Sun" is a documentary produced by Egypt in 1969 in technicolor and was publicly screened in Egypt for the first time at the Ismailia documentary film festival last year after its production from 40 years ; please do not be amazed because this documentary like many treasure documentaries in Egypt did not find their way to the public. We do not have cinemas that screen documentaries to educate the people and the TV buries the documentaries in dead times in order not to educate the people !!
The film which was directed by academy award nominee John Feeney was more than perfect choice to be aired and highlighted because it is about the Nile river and its eternal trip from the source to the sea , from what the ancient Egyptians described as the fountains of the Sun to the Mediterranean across history till the construction of the high dam. This film recorded the last Nile flood in Egypt making it very special.
This documentary which was filmed in the Nile basin countries shows you how different our diplomacy was in 1960s.
Of course some will say that we remember that documentary now during the Nile basin initiative crisis and I would like to say that in 2001 the film was nominated by Egypt to join the UNESCO's Memory of the world but unfortunately it was not that lucky
Since watching last year on Dream TV 2 I kept searching for it but I could not find it then despite if I had searched well , I might have found in the YouTube ; still it is never too late to share this wonderful documentary which is fortunately translated to English. You can watch it below :)
The only thing I do not like in that documentary was associating the belly dancer with the Middle age Arabic Islamic rule of Egypt but it just one shot in a wonderful documentary. The narration is wonderful , you can't find narrators like this anymore in Egypt
By the way late John Feeney published a wonderful book called "Photographing Egypt : 40 years behind the lens". Aside from the photos Feeney took in Egypt for 40 years , there are photos from 'Fountains of the sun" making in wonderful locations in Egypt and in the Nile basin countries.
I wish we produce a new documentary like that to show the Nile basin countries now and the environmental challenges facing the great river which are not less than the political challenges it is currently facing.
That was an enjoyable documentary but I didn't see any belly dancing in it.
ReplyDelete:(
great as usual .... thx dear .
ReplyDeleteYes the narration and score are great and it's a well put together documentary but superficialities aside:
ReplyDeleteThis documentary which was filmed in the Nile basin countries shows you how different our diplomacy was in 1960s.
How different was it?
AbdalNasser supported the overthrow of Sudan's civilian administration in order to negotiate with puppets who agreed to a deal which is inequitable and of 'zero benefit' to the Sudanese in the 1959 Agreement.
The documentary shamelessly sings the praises of the Aswan Dam and its benefit to Egypt in complete disregard to those Nubian farmers in Sudan who lost their livelihoods and land.
The temples in Abu Simbel were rescued, but not those in Sudan.
Egypt's Nile diplomacy has been fundamentally flawed since 1956 in its failure to negotiate fairly and cleanly with the civilian, democratically elected Sudanese government on an agreement that would have pleased upstream, midstream and downstream States.
Why Sudanese public opinion opposes the Nile Water Agreements?
http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article35863
Can you share the link of the movie?
ReplyDeletethanks