Four Women of Egypt
Tahani Rached has just won Quebec's highest film award. To mark the occasion, we present some of her outstanding films, which are concerned with both social issues and a form of salutary enchantment.
Amina, Safynaz, Shahenda and Wedad are four friends deeply attached to their country, Egypt. Looking back over forty years of their country's history, we discover that these women have very different religious and political beliefs, but that tolerance, empathy and openness are a fundamental part of their friendship.
Tahani Rached
Born in Cairo in 1947, Tahani Rached moved to Montreal in 1966. She entered the École des Beaux-Arts. She then turned to community work, before discovering the art of videography through her contact with New York artists such as Robert Kramer. She made her first documentary, Pour faire changement, in the early 1970s. A few videos and union documentaries later, in 1980 she made her first feature film, Les voleurs de job, about immigrant working conditions. She then joined the NFB, where she made films for almost twenty-five years. During this period, she made films in Quebec, Lebanon, Haiti and Egypt. After leaving the NFB in 2004, she returned to her native country, where she made three films about Egyptian society and history.
Photo: Collections of the Cinémathèque québécoise
