Part of a new wave of Egyptian filmmakers testing genre waters, Morad Mostafa builds from 2023 short “I Promise You Paradise,” to once again work on an intimate scale putting light on the lives of marginalized communities—often migrants, domestic workers, and women navigating unseen emotional terrains. Aisha Can’t Fly Away (gained a lot of film festival support prior to launching in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes this year) delves into its protagonist’s attempt to claim a sense of agency within systems that confine her.
Mostafa’s style blends naturalistic performances with a quiet, observational camera, favoring close-up textures and lived-in spaces that make the viewer feel physically present with his characters. The result is cinema that is both socially incisive and deeply human, attentive to the fragile hopes that persist even when escape feels impossible. And yes it is bleak. At the 2025 Marrakech Film Festival I got to chat with Morad Mostafa about this matched vantage points that instils a sort of imprisoned (not powerless) setting, about the dynamics between the characters, the use of a Dardenne type frame and finally we touched upon a new project he is bringing to market in Animals.
