Few events have dominated news headlines this year as much as the revolution in Egypt which began so suddenly and unexpectedly in January. In Tahrir 2011, Egyptian producer Mohammed Hefzy assembles three of the country's most talented emerging directors to document the seismic events that held their country, and much of the world, in thrall. Split into three parts, Tahrir 2011 is a powerful, moving and surprisingly funny depiction of the moments leading up to the ousting of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after thirty years in power. Director Tamer Ezzat's The Good gives voice to the citizen-warriors who, for eighteen unforgettable days, took over Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. With access to never-before-seen footage, The Good shows the extraordinary courage of the thousands of ordinary Egyptians who braved the brutal attempts by the security services to crackdown on the growing protests. Ayten Amin's The Bad takes the bold step of showing the revolution from the perspective of the much-feared, and much-hated, policemen assigned the thankless task of cracking down against the protesters. Amr Salama's The Politician is, perhaps, the most audacious chapter in the triptych, offering a slyly tongue-in-cheek portrait of Mubarak himself in the shape of a step-by-step guide to how to become a dictator, which includes a hilarious sequence about the malevolent effects of hair dye. Tahrir 2011 is must-see for anyone who spent any time in late January and February glued to their TV waiting for history to unfurl before their eyes.

Ali Jafaar