The Square looks at the hard realities faced day-to-day by people working to build Egypt’s new democracy. Cairo’s Tahrir Square is the heart and soul of the film, which follows several young activists. Armed with values, determination, music, humor, an abundance of social media, and sheer obstinacy, they know that the thorny path to democracy only began with Hosni Mubarak’s fall. The life-and-death struggle between the people and the power of the state is still playing out.

Najwa, a music teacher from the city of Minya, Upper Egypt, seizes the opportunity to come to Cairo on a trip with her students to search for Tahany, her first teacher that taught her music and used to live in an apartment in Heliopolis.