Life After Siham chronicles Abdel-Messeeh's journey through grief following the death of his mother.
In the film, the director sets out on a mission to revive his mother’s memory through the medium of cinema—using film not only as a tool for remembrance but also as a way to bring her back to life.
As the process unfolds, he realizes that cinema transcends mere remembrance: it becomes a vessel for expressing love and paying tribute to the fleeting beauty of life.
The documentary captures his emotional evolution, from struggling to accept his mother’s passing to actively preserving her legacy through a film that involves his father and their shared complexities.
On Instagram, Abdel-Messeeh expressed gratitude that Life After Siham will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, 13 years after his debut feature The Virgin, the Copts and Me (2011) was screened at the same event.
Abdel-Messeeh has also directed three short films: You, Waguih (2005), and Something Evil (2005), along with his aforementioned debut feature.
ACID is a "film directors association that has been promoting the diffusion of independent films in movie theatres and encouraging debates between authors and the audience for 23 years," reads the programme description.
Launched in 1993, the ACID programme at Cannes invites 15 filmmakers — members of the association whose films have previously been screened at the festival — to "give visibility to directors whose work is scarcely distributed, in order to facilitate a theatrical release".
This year’s ACID selections include Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, a documentary by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi about Gaza photojournalist Fatima Hassouna.
Elsewhere at Cannes, the Egyptian film Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore, directed by Morad Mostafa, will compete in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section.
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