Country: France, Egypt
Year: 2025
Duration: 76'
When Siham passed away, Namir couldn’t understand that she was gone forever. To him, a mother is immortal. So, he began investigating his family’s history, between Egypt and France. Mirroring the cinema of Youssef Chahine, a story of exile unfolds. One full of love, too. Alive, forever.
Biography
film director
Namir Abdel Messeeh
(Egypt, 1974) spent his early years in Egypt before moving to France, where he studied directing at La Fémis. After making several short films, he turned to more personal subjects with You, Waguih. His first feature-length documentary, The Virgin, the Copts and Me, explores with humor his ties to his homeland and Coptic family. It was selected at numerous festivals including Cannes, Berlin, and CPH:DOX, winning the Silver Tanit at Carthage in 2011 and Best Documentary at Doha. In France, it attracted over 112,000 spectators. Life After Siham is his second feature film.
FILMOGRAFIA
Quelque chose de mal (doc, cm, 2004), Toi, Waguih (doc, cm, 2006), La Vierge, les Coptes et moi (doc, 2012), La Vie après Siham (doc, 2025).
Declaration
film director
“To tell this story, I play with different types of images. Personal archives, past films, and footage captured over the years form the fabric of this documentary. To elevate this family memory and honor my mother’s imagina- tion – she dreamed I’d make “real” romantic films – I chose to incorporate excerpts from Egyptian films of the 60s and 70s, by Youssef Chahine and others. Juxtaposing their images with mine turns the grieving process into a universal journey through time, memory, and cinema.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Namir Abdel Messeeh. SCREENPLAY: Namir Andel Messeeh. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nicolas Duchêne. FILM EDITING: Benoît Alavoine, Emmanuel Manzano. MUSIC: Clovis Schneider. SOUND: Roman Dymny. CAST: Siham Abdel Messeeh, Waguih Abdel Messeeh, Nermine Abdel Messeeh, Namir Abdel Messeeh. PRODUCTION: Oweda Films.
CONTACT: SplitScreen lorena@splitscreen.hr
