Sunday Matinee: Free Trip To Egypt [Film]

“Seeking to build a bridge of mutual understanding and friendship, Tarek Mounib — a Canadian-Egyptian entrepreneur of Muslim faith — travels across the U.S. to find Americans concerned about an Islamic threat and makes them an intriguing offer . . . a Free Trip to Egypt.

With initial reactions ranging from suspicion to hostility, Mounib treks from sunny California to a Trump Rally in Kentucky, a small town in the heart of Georgia, Union Square in NYC . . . and a variety of locales in between. Eventually he cobbles together a diverse group of people, including a school teacher, police officer, Marine Corps veteran, single mom, preacher and beauty pageant queen. All have preconceptions and misgivings but are open and courageous enough to embark on the adventure of a lifetime in Cairo, Egypt, where the Americans are paired with locals just as diverse as them . . . and possibly with just as many misconceptions. What happens when a retired teacher and her husband are united with a young Egyptian revolutionary? Or when a Christian missionary and a born-again, former Miss Kentucky are housed with an orthodox Muslim family where the mother wears a burqa? Or when a police officer faces off with a radical, left-leaning journalist?” – Greenleaf & Associates

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Folks, if you’re looking for an absolute guarantee for some heart-string pulling, you’ve come to the right place. Free Trip To Egypt is exactly the sort of awe-inspiring documentary that is going to take you on absolute whirlwind of emotion. Tarek Mounib & filmmaker Ingrid Serban have managed to create absolute magic in documenting a group of complete strangers wondering around in a strange land, learning more about the world, and as corny as it may sound….learning about themselves in the process. Sure this is a cheese-filled statement but, honestly, fuck it. It’s true. And with all the turmoil and anger that is circulating the globe these days, I feel like we need some delightful cheese at this point. We need to see American people of different backgrounds getting to understand themselves, one another, and to break down the walls of hatred (both proverbial and physical) that is being built for people simply because they don’t live the same lives as them. And Egypt is an absolutely perfect place to start this type of conversation, as this incredibly well done documentary will allow you to see.

And don’t get me wrong, it’s not all cheese and corny giggles occurring throughout the film. There are very real, touching, and deeply somber moments that are very important to the development of this very well crafted documentary. There are certain individuals that made up the group that accepted their free trip to the motherland that rubbed me the wrong way, but I feel that even as a viewer of a film like Free Trip To Egypt, you have to be patient and accepting of things you don’t understand. Except for when people are just acting like complete fools in a distant land, then I believe they can be free game, and was grateful to see them called on their bullshit. But, I digress from the point here.

Free Trip To Egypt is the type of film that needs to be shown not only in theatres across the globe, but in an educational setting as well. So many people around the world, but especially in the United States, could benefit from the message that Mounib and his crew have brought to the world. I hope you all take a moment check out this incredible film as soon as you can. Run, don’t walk, to see this incredible documentary.

And because I truly do not want to screw up what could be a magical event, I am going to defer back to the good people at Greenleaf & Associates to tell you about how you can check out the film, very soon:

Free Trip to Egypt will enjoy a one-night event premiere June 12 in 450+ theaters across the country (Fathom); and is also available for viewing in theaters on Cinema on Demand via Tugg.

The Wed., June 12th premiere event, live at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT and tape-delayed 7 p.m. MT, PT, HI, AK, is the highlight of a #PledgeToListen Day of Unity. Immediately following the screenings, a 30-minute panel discussion led by celebrities and thought leaders will be streamed into theaters to launch a discussion about how to listen and bring more kindness to the world — and asking everyone to take the online #PledgeToListen and to look beyond that which divides us and to bring authentic conversations to their community.