The Square, a Netflix-released documentary about the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, is represented at the 86th Academy Awards, with a key nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category, but you won’t be seeing its “stars” in Los Angeles tonight. That’s because they’re unable to leave Egypt, or on the run.
“We would love to be celebrating this day more than anything with the lead character, Ahmed, but we can’t get him permission to leave [Egypt],” [director Jehane] Noujaim told Mashable. “Ramy, the singer in the film, also doesn’t have permission to leave the country. Magdy is currently in hiding; he obviously can not leave because he was 25 years in [Mohamed] Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which is now being persecuted.”
“The people that can come though, I believe, are Khalid Abdalla, who was the actor in the Kite Runner,” she added, “and Ragia Omran, who is the human rights lawyer and somebody I call our Erin Brockovich of Egypt.” (Via)
It’s unlikely the cast from The Act of Killing will attend, too. They’re too busy attending their own Oscars, where they win every award including Handsomest Dudes. Also, there’s giant fish everywhere.
