Egypt is making its own documentary about Cleopatra following outrage at Netflix’s ‘blackwashing’

An Egyptian documentary network has vowed to shoot its own documentary on the life of Queen Cleopatra after an upcoming film from Netflix ruffled feathers across the nation.

Cairo-based channel Al Wathaeqya revealed they will take on the project and will join forces with the documentary production sector of Egypt's United Media Services, an initiative that aims to accurately represent and promote Egyptian life.

The filmmakers revealed their plans to tell Queen Cleopatra's real story in a statement to the Egypt Independent.

"Preparations have begun to produce a documentary about Queen Cleopatra VII, daughter of Ptolemy XII, known as Cleopatra, the last king of the Ptolemaic family, that ruled Egypt in the wake of the death of Alexander the Great," the statement read.

"Based on what is always usual in all the work of the Documentary Production Sector and Wathaeqya Channel, there are work sessions currently being held with a number of specialists in history, archeology, and anthropology."

Netflix

Al Wathaeqya also vowed to carry out accurate 'subject research related to the film' while depicting the film and Cleopatra herself as per what the 'utmost levels of research and study' dictate.

The decision to green light a documentary on one of Egypt's greatest rulers comes only weeks after Netflix released a trailer for their own impending documentary.

The teaser sparked uproar from people across the Arab nation and soon became one of the streaming service’s most disliked trailers ever.

One Egyptian lawyer took his fury to the courts, even filing a lawsuit against Netflix over the decision to make Cleopatra black.

He has requested that legal action be taken against the creators of the show and that the streaming service should be shut down in Egypt.

Now, director Tina Gharavi has hit back at the criticisms.

Gharavi, who took the role of director last year, recalled seeing Elizabeth Taylor play Cleopatra in the 1963 film and feeling as a child that the image was 'not right'.

"With this new production, could I find the answers about Cleopatra’s heritage and release her from the stranglehold that Hollywood had placed on her image?," she asked.

Netflix

Noting that 'the chance of [Cleopatra] being white [was] somewhat unlikely', So Gharavi began the hunt for 'the right performer' to play the queen.

She continued: "Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter."

As a result, she cast Adele James, who is a Black actor.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Queen Cleopatra will be available to stream via Netflix from May 10.