Film opens Jan. 11 at Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and The Quad Cinema NYC

Produced, directed and written by Fredrik Stanton with an Academy Award-winning team including Don Glascoff, Executive Producer of Taxi to the Dark Side and Adam Bolt, Editor of Inside Job, UPRISING chronicles the Egyptian revolution from the perspective of its leadership and key organizers. With never before seen footage, UPRISING maps the struggle for freedom against tremendous odds, the sacrifice, the courage and ingenuity that allowed them to succeed. Featuring major figures, including four Nobel Peace Prize nominees, several Egyptian presidential candidates, the former foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, and former US Ambassadors and White House officials.

In January 2011, millions of Egyptians took to the streets in a spontaneous eruption against thirty years of oppression under the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Communicating via Facebook and Twitter, the largely peaceful protesters braved tear gas, beatings, and bullets in the hope of facing down security forces and overthrowing the government. Over eight hundred lost their lives, and several thousand were arrested and tortured by security forces.

The film explores the frustrations that had built for decades, the role of social media in unleashing the revolution, the youth and courage that changed a nation, and the implications for the future. Their success in forcing the downfall of the regime, one of the most significant foreign policy developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall, has changed the face of the Middle East and started a chain reaction that continues. Many of those profiled in the film were arrested, some were tortured, several were shot. All of them describe the event as the most meaningful and rewarding of their lives.

In a string of awards, UPRISING was recognized as the Best Documentary at the St Louis Film Festival, Best Documentary – Silicon Valley Film Festival; Golden Reel Award — Nevada Film Festival; Best Documentary – Lone Star Film Festival; Best of Festival – Alexandria Film Festival. The film premiered at the Beirut International Film Festival this spring. Fred Stanton recently won the Golden Eagle award from Cine.org.

Fredrik Stanton, director writer, producer is the author of Great Negotiations: Agreements that Changed the Modern World. He has appeared on C-Span’s Washington Journal and Voice of America, and his writing has been published in the Washington Post.com, Forbes.com, Politico, the Boston Herald and the United Nations Association’s A Global Agenda. The former president and publisher of the Columbia Daily Spectator, he has served as an election monitor in Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Azerbaijan.

Opening: 01/11/2013 Limited