TICKLING GIANTS Documentary to Screen at MCCC

The community to a free screening of the documentary "Tickling Giants" on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

The film, which runs 111 minutes, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Auditorium at the Conference Center at Mercer, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The event is presented by the Mercer County Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Center. Directions are available at www.mccc.edu.

Premiering in 2016 and produced by Sarkasmos Productions, the documentary focuses on the political satire of Dr. Bassem Youssef. Youssef left his career as a heart surgeon in Cairo in 2011 during what came to be known as the Arab Spring to try his hand at comedy. His show, "Al Bernameg" (simply called The Show), was inspired by Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. It marked the first political satire program on Egyptian television. Thirty million viewers tuned in for each episode.

"Tickling Giants" was an official selection of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. A review in The Hollywood Reporter says: "Political satirists in America generally don't have to deal with anything more threatening than internet trolls. Such was not the case for Bassem Youssef, popularly known as 'The Egyptian Jon Stewart' for his acerbic televised satire. During his several years hosting a political comedy show in his native country, Youssef and his team were faced with threats, protests, lawsuits, government oppression and eventually cancellation. His fascinating and often amusing story is well recounted in Sara Taksler's documentary."

Taksler, the film's director and screenwriter, grew up in Princeton Junction and graduated in 1997 from what is now West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. Her first documentary was "Twisted, a Balloonamentary," about balloon twisting, which premiered in 2007 and was an official selection of the SXSW Film Festival. Taksler was a senior producer at The Daily Show, where she worked with both Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah, and is now a supervising producer of The Opposition, a new show starring Jordon Klemperer, also on Comedy Central.

Executive producers on "Tickling Giants" are Taksler, Technicolor, and Hassan Elmasry. Other producers include Frederic Rose, Maziar Bahari and Monica Hampton.

Pictured: Director and screenwriter Sara Taksler, originally of Princeton Junction, N.J., with political satirist Dr. Bassem Youssef, the "Egyptian Jon Stewart."

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