Skip to main content
Draw Me Egypt film image' close on smiling woman

Draw Me Egypt: Doaa El-Adl, a Stroke of Freedom

Portraits

This event has passed

Doaa el-Adl is one of the most prominent of the very few female cartoonists in the Arab world. As the first woman to win the prestigious Journalistic Distinction in Caricature, el-Adl is a force for change in the male-dominated world of Egyptian political cartoonists. This documentary is a vibrant and eye-opening exposé of the inherent dangers and challenges faced by graphic artists in this profession: a rebellious critic of patriarchy, Doaa el-Adl courageously faces daily critique, censorship, intimidation, and death threats for her art.

Egyptian director Nada Riyadh brings el-Adl‘s most famous works to life in a creative and exciting mix of documentary, cartoon, and animation. Pushing the boundaries of freedom in an often restrictive society, el-Adl uses her talent to critique violence against women and advocate for women’s rights, to inspire, and to bring change in Egyptian society.

This film will be preceded by two shorts: Facing the Storm: The Indigenous Response to Climate Change (Episode 1 Mazaska Talks) and The Smallest Power, together showcasing voices for change around the world.

 

Presented by

Media Partner

Community Partner

       

Director
Featuring

Doaa El-Adl

Credits
Country of Origin

Belgium/France/Luxembourg

Year

2023

Language

In Arabic with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Sexual language

PG

Open to youth!

52 min
Animation Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice U18 May Attend Women Directors
ARTE France, VRT, RTBF

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Salma Abdalla, Sigrid Dyekjaer

Producer

Hanne Phlypo, Estelle Robin You, Marion Guth, François Le Gall, Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix

Screenwriter

Nada Riyadh, Vincent Coen, Guillaume Vandenberghe

Cinematography

Karen Vázquez Guadarrama

ANIM

L’Incroyable Studio

Editor

Geert Veuskens, Frédéric Fichefet, Karima Saïdi, Lenka Fillnerova

Original Music

Catherine Kontz

Nada Riyadh headshot; Draw Me Egypt director

Nada Riyadh

Nada Riyadh is a film director/producer based in Cairo, Egypt. Her debut documentary film Happily Ever After premiered at IDFA in 2016. Her short fiction Fakh (The Trap) was selected for Semaine de la Critique at Cannes in 2019. Nada co-founded the Cairo-based production company Felucca Films, aiming to help filmmakers from the MENA region explore and shape their own personal voices. She is now in post-production of her second feature documentary, Land of Women, co-directed with Ayman El Amir.

Filmography: Happily Ever After (2016); Grenzenlos (2018); The Brink of Dreams (2024)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Happy Feet

Dir. George Miller
168 min

A tap-dancing penguin named Mumble can't sing like the others, but his unique skill may save his colony. Happy Feet is a music-filled adventure that celebrates courage, friendship, staying true to yourself, and is a perfect icy break this summer!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Ghosts of the Sea

97 min

Imagine an especially poetic true crime podcast about a sailor who built his own sailboat and lived on the high seas, but lost not one, but two wives along the way... Now imagine it told from the vantage point of his daughter: Ghosts of the Sea.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Apocalypse in the Tropics

Dir. Petra Costa
110 min

An Academy Award nominee for Edge of Democracy, Petra Costa returns with a fascinating take on how the Evangelical movement has taken Brazil by storm and worked with the right to undermine the constitutional separation of Church and State.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Oldboy

Dir. Park Chan-wook
120 min

The second movie in Park's Vengeance Trilogy. Choi Min-sik stars as Dae Su, inexplicably held captive by he-knows-not-who for 15 years, and then, just as inexplicably, released. Not surprisingly, after all this time, he has only one thing on his mind...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Vancouver Mysteries Presents... Murder at the Movies
black and white photo of a man in a trench coat and trilby hat standing against a brick wall

Vancouver Mysteries Presents... Murder at the Movies

95 min

This summer, enter the world of film noir with a new immersive murder mystery blending elements of film with live performance and audience participation. This show turns the VIFF Centre into a crime scene and you, the audience, into detectives.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light film image; painted reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows that combine to look like a flower

Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light

Dir. Paul Wagner
118 min

Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out