Life After Siham is an emotional and witty ode to parents by Namir Abdel Messeeh, released in 2025. A love letter to his late mom and dad. The film journeys through memories, forgotten family archives, and his roots in Egypt and France.
At its heart, it is Namir’s tribute to his late mom, Siham. Life After Siham is the director’s way of keeping his promise to Siham to make one last film with her. The film immortalizes his parents’ memory for Namir, his children, and his family.
The Plot
Faced with his mom’s death, Namir, a filmmaker experiencing a creative block, decides to film the grieving process. He decides to revive his mom’s memory through film, learning during this process that cinema has the power to bring back life to our late loved ones.
He uses cinema to remember, heal, and document his family’s history. Through this intimate process, we see his exploration of familial relationships, like the unheard story of his parents’ love story and their letter correspondence that paints a classic old Egyptian film, and his aunt, who shaped his early years since his birth.
Film’s Curation
The documentary creatively utilizes the beauty of old Egyptian film to communicate his message, clear and intimate. These films add to the storytelling narrative, paired with Namir’s warm narration and humorous on-screen text. He includes touching scenes from an earlier film with his mom, making the audience’s heart grow fonder for this mother-son relationship.
Life After Siham uses Youssef Chahine’s film The Return of the Prodigal Son throughout the documentary. Namir borrows from Chahine’s film to tell the story of his mom’s life and his parents’ love story. It’s his way of honoring his mom’s wish of making films with ‘real actors’.
A Beautiful Passage
One thing that stood out is how Namir uses the same passage to track changes and different emotions. We see him and his whole family walking down this passage many times. One specific scene that is close to my heart is the one where Namir is looking down this passage, then the scene cuts to an earlier scene of Siham walking down the same passage as if Namir is looking back at her, picturing her presence in that very place. It’s a real-life flashback done right.
“Cinema is the only remedy.”
When Namir’s aunt asks him, “What is the remedy for remembering?” he answers, saying,
“Cinema is the only remedy.”
For him, filmmaking is the path to grieving, remembering, and moving forward. This project became his way of capturing a tangible, lasting record of his family’s story. The film moves like memories coming together.
Determination and Hope
The director Namir Abdel Messeeh has a history of directing intimate and personal films like his feature narratives: Virgin, the Copts, and I. Despite doubts and the long years it took to make, Namir’s determination carried Life After Siham to completion. The film stands as a message of hope, encouraging filmmakers to persist in their visions and reminding families that reconciliation and understanding are always possible.
The film is an ode to all mothers, fathers, and families, screened at the 18th Edition of Panorama of the European Film. The Film gained a lot of praise, getting selected for many film festivals like ACID, CIFF, and GFF. It was nominated for the Golden Eye nomination at the Cannes Film Festival.