Amal
Spring Grants 2017
Mohamed Siam / Feature Documentary / Egypt, Lebanon, France, Germany, Denmark, Qatar / 2017 / 80 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Creative Documentary
Synopsis
Amal, an angry teenager, comes of age in a post-revolution Egypt that is undergoing tremendous change. Filmed over five years, ‘Amal’ is an observational self-discovery journey that follows a young female from the age of 15 till the age of 20 while she is searching for her place, identity and sexuality in a male-dominated society. As she grows from childhood into adulthood, she realises how limited her choices are as a young female living in an Arab police state in a post-revolution era.
Credits
- Director
- Mohamed Siam
- Screenwriter
- Mohamed Siam
- Producer
- Myriam Sassine
- Production Company
- Abbout Productions
- Production Company
- Abbout Productions
About the Director
Mohamed Siam is a fiction and documentary filmmaker. A grantee of Sundance, World Cinema Fund, and Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, his films have been screened at NYFF, Karlovy Vary, and Carthage, where he won The Grand Prize and Best Cinematography in 2017 for his first film, 'Whose Country'? His film 'Amal' was IDFA Opening Film that won Sheffield Jury Prize, London and FidaDoc prizes and screened in Göteborg, CPH Dox, Vision du Réel and was sold worldwide. Siam is an Alumnus of Sundance, La Femis, La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde in Cannes and a Berlinale, Durban & Beirut Talent Alumnus who has also won the Robert Bosch Film Prize and Thessaloniki award. He was a jury member at Karlovy Vary, Göteborg and Durban Film Festivals, IDFA Bertha and Hot Docs Funds. A fellow scholar and filmmaker resident at the American University in Paris in 2018, Siam was selected for the Netflix Fellowship in 2021. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
"IDFA 2017, Shifting Perspectives: The Arab World, Opening Film (WP)
Goteborg FF 2018, New Voices
Visions du Reel 2018
Karlovy Vary IFF 2018, Another View
Thubingen Arab FF 2018
CINEMED 2018
Mumbai FF 2018
Festival des Cinémas d'Afrique du Pays d'Apt 201
"Youth Jury Prize, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018
Student award for FIRST FILM, CINEMED 2018
Golden Tanit for Best Documentary, Carthage FF 2018
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2018"