Up at Dawn: the Working Children of Egypt

In Egypt, child labour has been a more or less accepted phenomenon for centuries. Children work on the land, in small factories of even for arts projects, making art objects as a form of labour. Welfare workers and teachers in Egypt feel that the term child labour is too stigmatising. They whole-heartedly admit that it is general practice in their country, but say that it is not as bad by far as in other places, for example in Asia or elsewhere in Africa. The Egyptians try to explain to the Canadian makers of Up at Dawn that values and standards can differ in different cultures. The children that are introduced seem to be influenced too much by their mentors and educators to be able to make critical remarks. Still, the Egyptian government offered no real resistance to the film, although a censor was constantly nearby, accompanying the camera crew everywhere they went. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)