Franco-Egyptian filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh’s “Life After Siham” is screening within the Particular Screenings part of the Cairo Intl. Movie Pageant, on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20, having beforehand obtained growth assist on the 2021 Cairo Movie Connection. Along with enjoying in Cairo, it’s also screening in IDFA, Turin and Marrakech.
The autobiographical hybrid-doc is produced by Messeeh’s manufacturing firm Oweda Movies, in co-production with Camille Laemle, by way of Paris-based Les Movies d’Ici, and supported by two Egyptian producing companions – Ambient Gentle and Pink Star. It’s distributed by Météore Movies. The gross sales firm is Break up Display.
After its world premiere at ACID in Cannes 2025, the movie screened in Zurich and just lately received the El Gouna Star Award for Finest Arab Documentary in El Gouna Pageant in Egypt.
The movie builds on themes that Messeeh developed in his debut feature-length documentary, “The Virgin, the Copts and Me,” which screened at Cannes, Berlin and CPH:DOX, and was launched theatrically in France, with 112,000 admissions.
Each initiatives are linked to his dad and mom, who have been pressured into exile in France within the Nineteen Seventies, after his father was imprisoned underneath Nasser’s regime, as a result of his communist affiliations.
In his new movie, Messeeh interacts together with his late dad and mom and explores the ability of movie to revive recollections and produce again misplaced ones. The director spoke with Selection in regards to the movie, and its growth course of, that spanned over a decade.
How did your venture come about?After my earlier movie, my mom informed me she’d be prepared to work on a brand new movie, however needed me to make a “actual movie” this time – with actors, just like the traditional Egyptian movies. I began engaged on a script, however once I came upon she had superior most cancers, I informed her, we’re going to make a movie collectively in a short time, however she died quickly after, in 2014.
I began to make a movie as an act of survival and resistance – to say that she’s nonetheless right here, in a method. With the assistance of my camerman, Nicolas Duchêne, we filmed her funeral after which I filmed some sequences with my father. Nevertheless it was too painful, and I finished fully for a number of years. A lot later, I confirmed the photographs to a pal of mine who’s an editor and he informed me I needed to make the movie. As a result of it’s a common story.
You initially deliberate to incorporate extra fictional parts?Sure, I wrote a screenplay through which there have been pictures of my mom and the funeral, however the remainder was fictionalized. That’s what we introduced on the Cairo Movie Connection. However after round three years of growth, through which we introduced the movie to tv stations, traders, and the CNC, we couldn’t get funding, I felt like giving up. As an alternative I made a decision to movie some scenes with my father. I referred to as Camille, my co-producer. We shot some new footage with my father and from the second we began modifying the movie with all of the documentary materials, we realized we didn’t must shoot the fictionalized scenes. As an alternative we bought the thought of utilizing archive movies to attempt to inform the story – the scenes that have been lacking from my movie. So it’s actually a movie that was constructed, that invented itself, that rewrote itself fully, through the modifying course of.
How necessary was it to have the world premiere at Cannes?We introduced it to the Cannes competition as a result of we thought this movie has no probability of being launched within the cinema and to search out an viewers except we confirmed it in a significant worldwide competition. Cannes noticed a tough minimize of the movie and stated, “We’ll take it,” and from then on the whole lot accelerated. We confirmed an virtually completed model at Cannes and had an amazing reception. Then we went again to the modifying room as a result of there have been nonetheless issues to finalize… the sound, the music. We completed the ultimate model of the movie, which was screened in Zurich, the place it obtained some awards, then we went to the El Gouna Pageant, the place we obtained three awards. So the movie is beginning to have a profession.
Your father is a key presence within the movie.Instantly after the funeral, I filmed a number of days with him. Then in 2023 we had this disaster, when everybody was saying no to the movie. My father was dwelling in a nursing residence, and we realized he was quickly going to die, and I assumed to myself, I completely must movie one thing earlier than he passes away. I began the movie with my mom’s demise as a result of I didn’t wish to settle for that she had died, and the movie ends with coming to phrases with my father’s demise. It’s a second once we be taught to say “I really like you” and say goodbye, and settle for the truth that life goes on, that demise is a part of life, which is traumatic for everybody. The movie has had a therapeutic dimension for me.
How have folks reacted within the screenings?The reactions have been actually very good. From individuals who have misplaced their dad and mom, or whose dad and mom have been dying, who noticed the movie and informed us, “We cried, but it surely made us really feel good as a result of it was a type of permission, to say goodbye. Some folks informed me that after seeing the movie it made them wish to go speak to their dad and mom.
Why has it been necessary so that you can display the movie in Egypt, first in El Gouna and now in Cairo?It’s like bringing my dad and mom again to Egypt. They left Egypt in Nineteen Seventies, not as a result of they didn’t love their nation, however as a result of political and monetary causes. We all the time have lived in Egypt, in our hearts. In my early years, I used to be introduced up in Egypt by my aunt. My dad and mom all the time remained Egyptians. My father, even in France, lived in Egypt. He learn all of the Egyptian newspapers, he primarily had Egyptian mates. In his coronary heart, he was all the time in Egypt. We have been capable of return to Egypt within the holidays. Nevertheless it was an exile, one thing irrevocable. They have been buried in France. Making this movie, and displaying it in Egypt and receiving prizes, is like bringing them again to their homeland.
How have Egyptian audiences reacted to the movie?Once we confirmed the movie in El Gouna, it was actually stunning as a result of at first I sensed that the spectators have been very disturbed, as a result of I used to be exposing a private story, an intimate story in entrance of the digicam, the place folks speak very brazenly about demise and all that. I feel that the viewers was a bit unsettled at first, however one thing actually unimaginable occurred. At one level within the movie, there was a shift and the viewers felt entitled, I can’t put it every other method, to just accept the feelings that they themselves skilled whereas watching the movie. They began laughing and so they began to cry. On the finish of the movie, it was unimaginable. There have been spectators who got here as much as me, who got here to hug me, and kiss me. Full strangers. Although this entails taboo topic for us. There’s a degree of modesty in Arab international locations – sure matters aren’t mentioned, even much less so in entrance of the digicam. Issues of affection and demise, the whole lot associated to emotions between youngsters and fogeys.
How necessary have been festivals for growth of the movie?Crucial. The assist we obtained wasn’t giant sums, however psychologically it was massively necessary, as a result of immediately there have been individuals who stated they believed in our venture. Growth assist included the Atlas Workshops, the Cairo Movie Connection, the Arab Tradition Fund, the Doha Movie Institute and CineGouna. We additionally had two Egyptian co-producers – Ambient Gentle and Pink Star – who put cash into the movie. I additionally invested a few of my very own cash to get the movie made. My father handed away, and I invested a few of my father’s inheritance. I assumed to myself, it is smart that this legacy can be utilized to make a movie that may be a tribute to my dad and mom. As soon as we have been within the modifying stage, we additionally managed to get some help from France, from the CNC, and from the Île-de-France area.
What position was performed by your coproducer, Camille Laemle?She was all the time my security internet. She was the one who all the time managed to assist me discover the steadiness – of by no means being too shut or too far-off from my topic. Camille’s mom died throughout manufacturing of the movie and so it wasn’t simply my movie. Benoît Alavoine, the movie’s editor, had misplaced his father a number of years earlier. So in a method we have been all orphans.
The archive pictures from Youssef Chahine’s movies play an necessary position.I used these pictures to rework my dad and mom into fictional movie heroes. By utilizing the photographs from movies directed by Youssef Chahine, exactly as a result of I’ve recovered some previous pictures from his movies and used them to recreate a type of fiction. In a method it’s as if I saved my promise and fulfilled my mom’s want to make a “actual movie.”
Was it troublesome to achieve permission to make use of pictures from the Youssef Chahine archive?We have been actually fortunate, as a result of Marianne Khoury, Youssef Chahine’s producer, and her associates, who personal the rights, is aware of me, and likes my work, and he or she actually supported us on the venture. She made it possible to make use of the photographs. I additionally hope that this has allowed me to revive sure movies and a sure type of cinema. Subsequent 12 months, it’s the centenary of Youssef Chahine’s start. I feel his movies might be re-released in cinemas and I hope that my movie may also assist to revive folks’s want to find this sort of cinema.
What alternatives does the Cairo Movie Pageant supply?Cairo is a competition that pulls giant audiences, from most of the people. El Gouna has the next proportion of trade professionals. In Cairo, the spectators come from all walks of life. They’re curious to find movies and in any other case don’t essentially have entry to them. It’s extraordinarily necessary. Even my household, my Egyptian household, for instance, are coming to see the movie. So it’s an amazing accomplishment to display the movie in Cairo.
