Two years ago at Mansoura University, Naira Ashraf was killed by the man who said he loved her after turning down his offer of marriage. She was not the only one. Violence against women is a major subject of films from all over the world, but none depict its most recent manifestation over the last decade in Egypt. Samar, Qabl Akher Soura (Samar, Before the Last Picture) written, produced and directed by Ayatallah Yusuf – recently screened at Zawya Cinema – focuses on victims of acid attacks. I attended the film’s premiere at the Ismailia International Film Festival last March, but Yusuf stopped the screening midway through the film because the projector was malfunctioning. Yet my sense that this was a documentary invested with a great deal of effort and devotion was confirmed when I saw it in its entirety. It was important to sit down with Yusuf for an in-depth, one-on-one discussion.

“In 2016,” Yusuf told me, “a friend of mine, Nermin – who is mentioned in the film and is also Samar’s friend – told me Samar’s whole story. At that time, Nermin was helping cases like her, and I was not content with the idea of making a short video about her work. I wanted to do something more substantial.” Yusuf explained how the idea of making a film about the case of Samar came to her. The film opens with Samar while she prepares to go out, wearing her makeup, including an artificial eye to replace the one she lost along with part of her face in the acid attack. Samar had 15 operations to reconstruct her face, only some of which were successful. She wanted to make use of her experience with many other women with the same condition, especially when she travelled to Dubai and found out that this type of operation has a very high rate of success there.

The film also deals with Sanaa, the victim of a similar attack by a relative of hers, which took place when she was only 14. “Samar knew about the case of Sanaa even before she was attacked by her husband,” Yusuf told me, “when she saw Sanaa on a TV feature. Samar’s husband threatened her that if she divorced him he would make her look like Sanaa. So after what she went through with this medical recovery trip, she looked for Sanaa and wanted to help her too.” The filmmaker first follows Samar while she helps Sanaa obtain what treatment she can at the expense of the state. She shoots her before and after a surgery preparing her for the artificial eye. Then Samar manages to obtain a grant for Sanaa to be given a facial reconstruction and artificial eye operation in Dubai. At this time Samar had been looking for work in the UAE for some time and she decided that Sanaa would stay with her during the operation. The filmmaker accompanied them during this sensitive time, which lasted one whole month.

On the screen it felt as if the drama revolved around Sanaa and her condition but Yusuf thinks otherwise. “The film is about Samar’s journey,” she says. “Samar is the core of the film. Sanaa wouldn’t be able to come to Dubai without Samar, who was searching for work there at this time.” Yusuf started shooting in 2017. “I like the cohabitation kind of documentary, that is why I became friends with Samar and then Sanaa, especially during their trip in Dubai. We lived together in the same place for a month. One of the main difficulties of this film is that I was deeply involved in their cause, I even put myself in their shoes. I showed how their stories entered my dreams. I included a photomontage of some images I experienced during my sleep. But the real burden on me as a filmmaker was the editing. In Dubai I was shooting everyday. The result was more than 100 hours of material. However, in Dubai, I intentionally tried to make my presence in the film very light, believing this was the story of Samar and then Sanaa. I also tried to show another aspect of Dubai when the situation there was growing complicated, and the operation was about to be cancelled. I felt that it was a must to reflect the drama in the image.”

Sanaa, who comes from a humble middle class background, was on her first trip outside Egypt. Yusuf tried to use this detail to make the mood of the film a little lighter and funnier. Perhaps Sanaa’s character helped her. She was astonished by Dubai, and felt freer than she did at home, taking off her headscarf on a number of occasions. Yusuf tried to show another aspect of Dubai when the operation was going to be cancelled, then the images of the streets began to grow darker. But she managed to present her two characters as fully rounded human beings rather than just victims of male violence.

“I thought of making the end of the film after coming back from Dubai. Sanaa had her eye reconstructed. Samar had a decent job in Dubai. Mohamed, who was their driver, proposed to her. However, after months, when I was about to finish the film, almost everything in Samar’s life was collapsing. She returned to Cairo after she lost her job in Dubai and was divorced, feeling that her husband had used her. That is why I wanted to start the film with a message to Samar telling her that I finished the film and I wanted her opinion about it. Samar was not in a very good mood. I felt that this should be the ending of the film. This is life: ups and downs. This is the core of Samar’s character. She is still fighting. Samar has the personality of a determined fighter. She used her talent in drawing and painting as a relief, or to overcome sadness and negative thoughts. She was also collecting and organising requests from similar cases coming through her social media page, and putting together a file for each case so that they would be able to obtain grants or help for the treatment they needed. Samar says in the film that she is not aiming for scoring goals, she wants to win the match. This significant sentence, uttered totally spontaneously, explains her character.”

The film is not only about Samar and Sanaa or even victims of acid attacks, however. It is also the story of a human being who might have given in to trauma but chose to stand up and struggle to overcome her suffering, which enabled her to help others. In fact, the film seemed to delve into much deeper issues beyond harassment and violent crimes against women. It also tackles the notion of overcoming adversity and surviving against the odds.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 5 September, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly