Tickling Giants

Bassem Youssef was a heart surgeon working in Cairo before the revolution of 2011. Treating the wounded in the squares, he noticed the gap between what he was seeing and what television was saying, and started making a satirical programme from the laundry room of his flat with a laptop. Within a short time the programme was among the most watched in the region. The documentary follows that rise and what came after. Youssef took aim first at the period after Mubarak, then at the Morsi government, and finally at the power that followed the coup. Each time the pressure increased: lawsuits, detention, a change of channel and finally the closing of the programme. Youssef left the country in 2014. Sara Taksler's film is shot from inside the team and shows how much humour can withstand. Jon Stewart appears; Youssef had been a guest on his programme. The account is not a victory but a record of where a limit lies.