January 2011 in Egypt was marked by anti-government demonstrations. While thousands of protestors gathered in Cairo, poor villagers in the country’s south followed the tense situation on Tahrir Square on their TV screens.

Reaching the eyes of those tuning in from afar, world events are not always captured by the media as accurately as they should be. Shot over two and a half years in Egypt, this intrepid documentary by filmmaker Anna Roussillon provides a powerful reality check on the state of democracy today.