Tickling Giants

Bassem Youssef is an Egyptian whose life was critically affected by the Arab Spring. His profession changed drastically: the surgeon became the moderator of a satirical talk show, thus fulfilling a dream. This time lapse documentary portrays his journey, from initial YouTube endeavours to his successful and professional show, which had an average TV audience of up to 30 million in the Arab world. However, after escalating threats, even from the political sphere, this Egyptian showman had to end his programme and go into exile. The story of Youssef’s courageous show reflects the political turbulence in Egypt after the fall of President Mubarak and the so-far futile efforts of the local society to attain true freedom.