678 (film)

678, released internationally as Cairo 6,7,8,, is a 2010 Egyptian political thriller film written and directed by Mohamed Diab. The film focuses on the daily sexual harassment of women in public places and events in Egypt. The film took the Top Prize in the 2010 Dubai International Film Festival, Muhr Arab category.

678
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMohamed Diab
Produced bySarah Goher
Written byMohamed Diab
StarringBushra
Nelly Karim
Maged El Kedwany
Bassem Samara
Sawsan Badr
Ahmed Al Fishawy
Music byHany Adel
CinematographyAhmed Gabr
Edited byAmr Salah
Production
company
New Century Production
Distributed byRenaissance Egypt Company (2010) (Egypt, theatrical)
Global Film Initiative (2012) (US, all media)
Release date
  • December 12, 2010 (2010-12-12) (Dubai)
  • December 20, 2010 (2010-12-20) (Egypt)
CountryEgypt
LanguageArabic

Plot

The film focuses on the lives of three women of different social classes who get publicly harassed. It starts with Fayza (Bushra), a low income government employee who gets harassed in a taxi and a bus (numbered 678) on the way to work. When she arrives home she resists her husband's attempts in sleeping with her and doesn't explain why she can't sleep with him.

It then moves to Seba a middle class jewelry designer who gets harassed in a stadium by a group of men while her husband is unable to reach her to stop what is happening to her. Following that, her husband was unable to live with what happened and she was left with no one to take care of her emotionally. She separated from her husband and started a harassment class in al Sawi cultural wheel.

Finally the movie focuses on Nelly, a standup comedian and call center employee who gets harassed verbally on a call with a customer as well as physically while walking home when a truck driver grabs her and pulls her through the street. When he finally leaves her she runs behind the truck and doesn't let it go until she and the crowds were able to pull the driver out and hand him over to the police. She tries to file a report for harassment but the police officer resists and sends her to another precinct. She appears after that on a TV show as the first Egyptian to file a report for harassment.

Cast

Controversies

Controversies around the film include a threatened lawsuit by Egyptian pop singer Tamer Hosny for the film's use of his song, as he did not wish it associated with the subject.[1]

Attorney Abdel Hamid Shabaan made an attempt to block the film's exhibition in the Dubai International Film Festival due to its "poor portrayal" of Egypt.[2][3] The filmmaker denied any intention to defame Egypt, as he believes the issues narrated in the film are universal.[4][5][6]

Mahmoud Hanfy Mahmoud of the Association for Human rights and Social Justice requested that the film be banned as potentially inciting women to injure men's genitals with sharp tools, but filmmakers argued that it did not encourage but merely documented the practice of some women carrying such tools for self-defense.[7]

See also

References
  1. تامر حسنى غاضب من مخرج فيلم 678 [678 film doen't smear Egypt's reputation] (in Arabic). EgyTv. 2010-12-09. Archived from the original on 2010-12-11.
  2. "678 film doesn't smear Egypt's reputation". Horeytna. 2010-11-12. Archived from the original on 2010-11-24. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  3. "Film shines spotlight on Egypt's sexual harassment". The national. 2010-12-14.
  4. "678 film doesn't tarnish Egypt's reputation, the whole world is suffering from sexual harassment". The national. 2010-10-09. Archived from the original on 2010-12-19. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  5. "Film shines spotlight on Egypt's sexual harassment". The National. 2010-12-21.
  6. "Does not defame Egypt". NDP. 2010-12-14.
  7. "Citing potential harm to men's 'sensitive spots,' activist urges film ban". Al-Masry Al-Youm. 2010-12-27. Archived from the original on 2011-02-02. Archived from the original in Wayback Machine
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