Maha Maamoun compiled footage that had been posted on YouTube. The clips, filmed on mobile phones, document the break-in at the State Security buildings in Cairo and Damanhur in 2011 after the first wave of the Egyptian revolution. The subtitle refers to a 1969 film, The Night of Counting the Years (aka The Mummy), by Shadi Abd al-Salam, in which experimental camera angles, colours and slow edits gave the film a dreamlike quality similar to Maamoun’s nightmarish compilation. Maamoun’s sensitive editing organises raw material into a story with chapters, while guiding the audience into the belly of the beast. The dark and loaded footage captures the symbolic gestures of revolutionaries when faced with the hidden nightmares of an oppressive regime. A shaky camera scans the car park where brand new cars are proof of the corrupt wealth of the ruling class, in a dark cellar torch light reveals wall scratches documenting the suffering of the people in the underground prison. In contrast to the plight of the imprisoned, up in the offices brightly lit cabinets host gilded artefacts of dubious origins, framed images of those in power, and phones with direct lines to the presidential office. The revolutionary as the cameraman here plays several roles from the treasure hunter to the citizen journalist searching for proof. (Edit Molnár)