Too Early / Too Late

Inspired by a letter by Friedrich Engels and a 1974 account of two militant Marxist writers who had been imprisoned by the Nasser regime, Straub-Huillet filmed this film in France and Egypt during 1980. They reflect on Egypt’s history of peasant struggle and liberation from Western colonization, and link it to class tensions in France shortly before the Revolution of 1789, quoting texts by Engels as well as the pioneering nonfiction film Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895).

Cast

Danièle Huillet

Narrator (segment A) (voice)

Bahgat Elnadi

Narrator (segment B) (voice) (as Bahgat el Nadi)

Gerard Samaan

Narrator (segment B) (voice)

Crew

Danièle Huillet

Director

Jean-Marie Straub

Director

Caroline Champetier

Director of Photography

William Lubtchansky

Director of Photography

Robert Alazraki

Director of Photography

Jean-Marie Straub

Editor

Marguerite Perlado

Director of Photography

Danièle Huillet

Editor

Louis Hochet

Sound Recordist

Danièle Huillet

Writer