Memories of a Massacre

Crowds had gathered to show their loyalty to democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, who had been ousted in a coup d’état. Morsi’s victory at the polls had been welcomed by President Barack Obama and other world leaders. He intended to push Egypt towards civilian democracy. Now Egyptian military forces set out to slaughter his supporters as the country descended into a state of emergency.This was a genocide on a par with China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.This film tells the story through a heinous archive and eyewitness testimony of the dramatic events of that day, including the tragic death of The Butterfly, a 17-year-old girl who tried to save lives but was shot by a sniper. Today, this teenager has become a symbol of Egyptian freedom.Two key eyewitnesses: British bodyguard Craig Summers, who was in the square with a cameraman who was shot, and talented photographer Mosa’ab Elshamy, who photographed the massacre, will form a backbone to the film, both visually through archive and with their testimony.The storytelling hones in on the micro-detail of personal stories of these survivors and eyewitnesses, then pulls out to give a much broader geopolitical insight with commentary from an expert journalist and informed politicians.Human rights activist Salma Ashraf describes how she was shot in the arm and her back while trying to document the atrocities going on all around her.The sisters Mariam and Gehad Hamada speak of their search in Cairo’s morgues after the massacre, looking for their brother Omar. His body was never found.New York Times journalist David D. Kirkpatrick and British MP Crispin Blunt, who was the only European politician to visit the sit-in at Rabaa Square in the six weeks before the massacre, will add to the dramatic tension as they describe the atmosphere among the protesters and the flurry of diplomatic visits.Experts include Barack Obama’s close aide Ben Rhodes, who was giving Obama key advice during the crucial weeks when Cairo was on a knife edge, with the US, the UK and the EU sending in envoys to try and prevent a bloodbath occurring.Meanwhile veteran human rights campaigner Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch looks at how the west reacted to the carnage, briefly imposing sanctions which were lifted just six months later.