THE SAME BOAT: Mohamed Diab’s controversial new film Clash calls for peace in a troubled Egypt.

THE SAME BOAT: Mohamed Diab’s controversial new film Clash calls for peace in a troubled Egypt.

Whichever way you measure it the Egyptian Revolution hasn’t quite worked out the way it was supposed to.

The popular uprising of 2011 managed to get rid of President Hosni Mubarak but his elected, strongly Islamist replacement Mohamed Morsi was ousted by a coup in 2013 after barely a year in office.

In the new movie Clash, controversial Egyptian director Mohamed Diab confronts the turmoil of his troubled country using a novel device.

Set completely inside a police van during a riotous night just after Morsi’s removal, he packs the screen with people from all sides of the Egyptian community, including people who hate each other.

One of the most famous people in Egypt, Mohamed Diab has a clear agenda with his film – he wants people to respect each other enough not to want to kill them just because they have different beliefs.

And, as one of the people credited with triggering the Revolution, Diab is unqualified in his conviction that cinema has the power to change things for the better.

His previous film, Cairo 678, exposed how much sexual harassment Egyptian women have to put up with and, consequently, was responsible for getting the law changed. For many men, the film was the first time they learnt about what their women folk endured.

He clearly hopes Clash will have the same sort of impact.

Please enjoy this interview.

Clash is now screening at ACMI.

Click PLAY to hear the interview with Mohamed Diab

Click PLAY to watch the trailer for Clash