Sexual harassment in Egypt gets international attention with this documentary film

Egypt's The People's Girls, a short documentary that highlights the ever-growing rise in sexual harassment in the country, has won the 'Best Documentary Short' award at the San Francisco Arab Film Festival 2016. 

“The international support to tackle this epidemic has been astounding, and the way men and women in Egypt are fighting back serves as an inspiration for audiences globally,” Colette Ghunim, one of the two directors of the documentary, told Egyptian Streets. 

The documentary, co-directed by Ghunim and Tinne Van Loon, features real-life stories of victims of sexual harassment in the country. 

The filmmakers also conducted several social experiments since the launch of the project as substance for the documentary.

Prior to the release of the full documentary, the filmmakers launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for filming and post-production. The campaign exceeded the crowdfunding goal of $25,000. 

Sexual harassment in Egypt has spread over the last couple of years, especially in the capital. 

In 2014, UN Women reported that over 99 percent of Egyptian women have been victims of sexual harassment in their lifetime. 

A teaser--called Creepers on the Bridge-- made major rounds on the Internet earlier this year. 

It garnered the attention of global audiences and media networks including the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and France 24.