El Banate Dol

A film by Tahani Rached (Egypt 2006). A group of young girls and women learn how to survive on the violent, dangerous streets of Cairo.

El Banate Dol ('These Girls') plunges us into the harsh universe of Cairo’s street life, a universe of violence and oppression as well as freedom. They are women, and thus twice marginalized. Their days are full of perils, be it the police shake-downs or the kidnappings and rapes by their fellow street dwellers.

'These Girls' is also the story of the encounter of Tata, Mariam, Abir and Donia with another woman, Hind, a devout Moslem whose work with the girls brings her to transgress social barriers and taboos.