The Uprising

(Peter Snowdon, Belgium/UK 2013, 79 min., DCP)

Here and Elsewhere. Peter Snowdon’s first feature-length film, The Uprising, weaves together mobile-phone footage shot by anonymous participants in the Arab Spring. Through careful editing, Snowdon sutures disparate places, events, and issues to create an image of unity while remaining faithful to the particularities of each cause. The Uprising offers viewers an intimate portrait of political upheaval different from the representation of the Arab Spring among Western media outlets. The film conveys a sense of possibility, as well as the risk assumed by protestors, in rethinking collective political action in the digital age.