Where Did Ramses Go?

This hour-long documentary blends personal recollection and essay style consideration of Egypt's political history with the story of an imposing 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II. The statue - which stood in Cairo's Ramses Square from 1955 to 2006 - proves a focal point for the childhood memories of director Amr Bayoumi, who was born in 1962.

Through the course of the film, Bayoumi ruminates on the personal and more wider significance of the statue, showing how it appeared in cartoons and even ice-cream adverts, at the same time as he considers the way it was used by authorities as a symbol of power. The He traces its history and notes how its replacement of Mahmoud Mukhtar's Eyptian Renaissance (Nahdat Misr) coincided with a political changing of the guard from Gamal Nader Nasser to Anwar Sadat.

The idea of control also runs through the narrative on a personal level as he recalls his authoritarian father. The history of the monument, which is accompanied by a wealth of archive photos and footage is educational and entertaining but although Bayoumi raises some interesting questions regarding authority, these feel under-explored, especially for those who may not have a grounding in the wider politics of the region. His own recollections of his father don't quite manage to strike the resonance he hopes with the wider footage either, although its clear these reminiscences are heartfelt.

The statue itself, however, holds the interest to the end and the film ends with some impressive footage of it making its final journey out of the square towards the Grand Egyptian Museum where it now resides.