‘The Square’ gets Oscar nod

“The Square” became Egypt’s first documentary film to be nominated for an Oscar on Thursday.

An Egyptian-American production directed by Jehane Nujaim, the film tells the story of the January 25 revolution through six characters whose lives are bound up in its events.

Among the characters featured are singer Ramy Essam, who became famous in 2011 for singing in Tahrir Square, and human rights lawyer Ragia Omran.

The film premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival and has already won numerous awards, including the award for best feature documentary from the International Documentary Association, the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival and the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

“This Oscar nomination is for all Egyptians whose struggle for human rights, social justice, and a freedom continues to this day. Thank you Egypt,” the filmmakers wrote on “The Square’s” official Facebook page after the nomination was announced.

Though it has been widely acclaimed internationally, the film has yet to be screened in Egypt.

The film was scheduled to be screened twice in Cairo as part of the Panorama of European Film Festival in December, but both screenings were canceled at the last minute. The Festival announced at the time that the cancelation was due to technical issues saying that the translated version was not finished and shipped on time.