How to Start a Revolution
| How to Start a Revolution | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpeg) |
|
| Directed by | Ruaridh Arrow |
| Produced by | Richard Shaw; Cailean Watt, assistant producer; James Otis, executive producer |
| Written by | Ruaridh Arrow |
| Starring | Gene Sharp, Jamila Raqib, Colonel Robert "Bob" Helvey,Srđa Popović, Ahmed Maher, Ausama Monajed |
| Cinematography | Philip Bloom |
| Edited by | Mike Crozier, Lorrin Braddick |
| Distributed by | TVF International |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
85 minutes |
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
How to Start a Revolution is a BAFTA award winning British documentary film about Nobel Peace Prize nominee and political theorist Gene Sharp, described as the world's foremost scholar on nonviolent revolution. The 2011 film describes Sharp's ideas, and their influence on popular uprisings around the world. Screened in cinemas and television in more than 22 countries it became an underground hit with the Occupy Wall St Movement.
Directed by British journalist Ruaridh Arrow the film follows the use of Gene Sharp's work across revolutionary groups throughout the world. There is particular focus on Sharp's key text From Dictatorship to Democracy which has been translated by democracy activists into more than 30 languages and used in revolutions from Serbia and Ukraine to Egypt and Syria. The film describes how Sharp's 198 methods of nonviolent action have inspired and informed uprisings across the globe.
A primary character of the film is Gene Sharp, founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, and a 2009 and 2012 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. Sharp has been a scholar on nonviolent action for more than 50 years, and has been called both the "Machiavelli of nonviolence" and the "Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare." Other main characters include Jamila Raqib, a former Afghan refugee and the Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution; Colonel Robert "Bob" Helvey;Srđa Popović, leader of Otpor! students group Serbia;Ahmed Maher, leader of April 6 democracy group Egypt; and Ausama Monajed, Syrian activist.
Scottish journalist Ruaridh Arrow, who wrote, directed, and co-produced the film, explained that he first learned about Gene Sharp's work as a student, and then heard that Sharp's booklets were turning up on the sites of many revolutions. But Sharp himself remained largely unknown. In explaining his motivation to make the film, Arrow stated that
...
Wikipedia