AfricAvenir presents the award winning Egyptian movie ‘678’

By: Staff Reporter

According to the film ‘678’, every time an Egyptian woman leaves her house she must make a lot of calculations. What should she wear? Are her clothes too revealing or too tight? What is she is going to ride in and should she walk alone in the street or have a man accompany her? All precautions have to be considered in private in order to minimise her chances of being groped or harassed in public.

The Egyptian film ‘678’ offers a succinct depiction of the plight endured by millions of Egyptian women who deal with sexual harassment on a daily basis, in a highly misogynistic society.
With bitterness and finesse, the movie explores the psyche of a harassed woman, emphasising the level of emotional harm inflicted on her when the privacy of her own body is violated by cold-blooded strangers. A plethora of negative emotions are explored. Torn by frustration, self-hatred and a resilient revenge impulse, she remains unsure about how to react to such an affront in a society that still blames the victim for “failing to protect her body”.
“Everyday I ride the bus and everyday I get harassed. How, after all that, do you want me to be rational?” With this question, Fayza Abdel Maksoud, one of the movie’s three main protagonists, hits a sensitive nerve with the majority of Egyptian women. Nearly 80% of Egyptian women experience public sexual harassment including explicit comments, groping, men exposing themselves and assault. Yet, less than five percent of the victims report it to the police, according to a women’s rights group.
Local viewers can watch the award winning film at the AfricAvenir premiere, screening on Saturday, 25 May at the Goethe-Centre in Windhoek. The screening starts at 18h00 and tickets are available at the door for N$30.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director of Sister Namibia, Laura Sasman.

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