ALFILM – Arab Film Festival Berlin
Namir Abdel Messeeh “Life After Siham”
Documentary, Egypt/France, 2025, 76 mins.
- Film
Arabic /
English /
French /
With English subtitles /
In this followup to his celebrated debut “The Virgin, The Copts, and Me” (2011), Egyptian-French filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh returns once more with an intimate portrait of his family. Stretching the limits of film as a medium, he still manages for his beloved, larger-than-life mother Siham to take center stage even after her absence.
Filmed over a decade, “Life After Siham” seamlessly interweaves archival material and intimate home videos with scenes from two classics of Egyptian cinema: “The Dawn of a New Day” (1964) and “The Return of the Prodigal Son” (1976) by Youssef Chahine. Cinematic canon, constant filming, and personal memories mesh together beautifully in this ultimate tribute to film as a medium for family healing, time travel, and communicating with the beyond.
Dates
Current
Credits
The 17th edition of ALFILM is funded by the Haupstadtkulturfonds and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung with financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the Council of the Arab Ambassadors in association with the Mission of the Arab League, and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient. In cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer.
Location
HAU1
Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 BerlinThere are two marked parking spots in front of the building. Access to the Parkett by means of a separate entrance with lift when necessary. Barrier-free restroom facilities are available.
