The Friends of Khufu

أصدقاء خوفو

In 2560 BC, during the last three days of the Nile flood, Merer, a real boatman whose diary survives, races the falling river to deliver the final stones of the Great Pyramid, giving back a name to the builders the world credits to aliens.

Tourists at Giza repeat the myth that aliens built the pyramids. The camera dives into the seam between two stones and lands in 2560 BC, year 27 of Khufu, the last three days of the Nile flood. Merer, a real boat inspector whose diary was found at Wadi al Jarf, races the falling river to deliver the last white casing stones. On the night canal, the old rower Idu is dragged under by a block's rope; Merer cuts him free and refuses to lose the man or the stone. The crew signs the block in red ochre: "We were here." Today, in a Cairo lab, an Egyptian conservator reads his papyrus and whispers his name. The film serves repatriation by returning what was taken first: the authorship. Once the builders' names are erased, their objects are easier to take. Merer's diary stayed in Egypt and was read by Egyptian eyes; every Egyptian artifact held abroad is a voice still waiting to come home and be heard by its own people.