We Have A World Premiere!

While I was sworn to secrecy for a few weeks, I am now able to share the excellent news that my most recent film — Nefertiti’s Daughters — will be having its World Premiere on April 9 at Aspen Shortsfest in Wheeler Opera House, in downtown Aspen, Colorado! It's also one of the select films to screen a second time in nearby Carbondale on Saturday night, April 11.

Aspen is one of the top short film festivals in the world, and one of the Academy Award-qualifying festivals for documentary shorts (for the grand jury winner). Last year’s short doc winner at Aspen (“Our Curse”) was one of the five Oscar nominees this year, and its short fiction winner (“The Phone Call”) actually won the Oscar.

Finally, to top off our great news, Bahia Shehab — the central artist of our film — will be flying from Cairo to attend the premiere in person, which will be wonderful for the film!

Anyway, more news to follow once Aspen releases its program publicly. I couldn’t be more excited. The festival has a great track record and there’s no doubt that our film is going to attract a good deal of attention as a result.

P.S. While only Kickstarter backers have access to the whole film, I have a publicly-available sneak preview if you’re interested. The three minute clip is one of the more powerful moments in this story. It takes place at the 22-minute mark of the 40-minute film and Bahia gives you an amazing sense of the intersection of women, art, and revolution, and the events that drove these truly remarkable artists into the streets of Cairo:

This clip is a segment from my upcoming film, Nefertiti's Daughters, and is one of the more powerful moments in the story. It takes place at the 22-minute mark of the 40-minute film and gives you a sense of the intersection of women, art, and revolution, and the events that drove these truly remarkable artists into the streets of Cairo. Director: Mark Nickolas Producers: Mark Nickolas, Jean Ferreri, and Ramy Francis Co-Director/Field Producer: Racha Najdi Editor: Mark Nickolas Composer: David Murillo R. Cinematographers: Oscar Frasser, Mark Nickolas Sound Design and Post-Production Audio: Austin DeVries Story Consultant: Deirdre Boyle TRT 39:53 FEATURING Bahia Shehab Mira Shihadeh Salma Samy Shahira Amin Ammar Abo Bakr Nazeer LOG LINE Queen Nefertiti returns to join revolutionary street artists on the front lines in the fight for women’s rights and freedom in Egypt. SYNOPSIS Nefertiti’s Daughters is a story of women, art and revolution. Told by prominent Egyptian artists, this documentary witnesses the critical role revolutionary street art played during the Egyptian uprisings. Focused on the role of women artists in the struggle for social and political change, it spotlights how the iconic graffiti of Queen Nefertiti places her on the front lines in the ongoing fight for women’s rights and freedoms in Egypt today. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The idea for Nefertiti’s Daughters grew out of watching the 2011 uprisings in the Arab world and how politically-charged graffiti and street art played such a prominent role as an act of social resistance. As someone who came to filmmaking after years in American politics, I was fascinated by the revolutionary aspect of this form of expression and how, through the simple act of writing on walls, these artists communicated their society’s hopes, dreams and demands. After watching a 2012 TED talk by Egyptian artist Bahia Shehab, I began to understand not only the violence that women in Egypt face on a daily basis, but how courageous women like Shehab tackled these previously taboo social issues through street art. The world took note. The film focuses on three prominent women artists whose ages span three decades, and whose work illuminates their perspective of the world, but also offers us a window into how each sees the struggles of their gender and country. We witness how street art has played a vital role throughout history during times of political transformation and social instability, and how ancient Egyptian history is incorporated directly into the work, re-appropriating styles from Pharaonic times including the great Queen Nefertiti, whose image becomes a rallying cry for women in the yet-to-be-completed Egyptian revolution. The street art memorializes acts of government brutality, serves as a call-to-arms for women, turns the tables on the male predators, and even makes us all imagine a world where a woman would be permitted to sing the sacred Adhan (the Muslim call for prayer). Contact: Mark Nickolas Mosaic Films mark@mosaicfilmsnyc.com Cell (212) 729-3159