Shot with raw authenticity using just a mobile phone, the film captures the emotional weight of leaving behind a place filled with memories. Selected for the prestigious Berlinale, Akher Youm is Ibrahim’s first short film, marking him as a bold new voice in contemporary cinema. The Egyptian filmmaker shared the inspiration behind the film, his unconventional shooting process, and his hopes for a new generation of filmmakers.
AM: What inspired the story of Akher Youm, and how did you translate that vision into the filming process?
Mahmoud Ibrahim: Like the title of the film, it portrays the last day of two brothers who are forced to leave their home, which is set to be demolished due to changes happening in the city. This house belongs to my friend, and I have many memories there that span years. I went to my friend’s house to help him move the furniture. The night before, I wrote the script in a few lines on a small piece of paper and put it in my pocket. While we were moving the furniture, I spoke with Ziad and Mody, the two characters who appear in the film, telling them what I wanted to capture. We shot it in about 30 minutes. Then, we resumed our main task: helping our friend move his belongings.
I was thinking about all of this, all our memories in this house, all the anger we feel, as well as the helplessness, and the city changing around us. I also thought about what’s happening in Palestine, about those who are forced to leave their homes in Sheikh Jarrah. What concerned me was documenting all of that, that moment when a person is forced to leave their home.
AM: Given the minimal setup and short filming time, what considerations shaped your approach to shooting the film?
Mahmoud Ibrahim: The filming was simple; there wasn’t much equipment or a large crew, just me, the two characters, Moody and Ziad, and a mobile phone we used to shoot. So, we didn’t face significant challenges. The entire shoot took only about 30 minutes.
As Jean-Luc Godard once said at the Cannes Film Festival: We are talking about solidarity with students and workers, and you are talking about tracking shots and close-ups. What concerned me was what was happening and the need to document it. I didn’t think about techniques or a conventional filmmaking approach.
AM: How did you guide Ziad and Mody in their roles, given their non-professional background?
Mahmoud Ibrahim: In reality, Ziad and Mody are not brothers; they were just acting as if they were. They are also not actors, but they were smart and understood what I wanted to do. We worked collectively; they would suggest ideas during the shoot, and I would incorporate them.
The film is neither fiction nor entirely documentary; it blends both genres. The house we filmed in belonged to a friend who didn’t appear in the film. In fact, his house had already been demolished before the shooting. What the three of us, Ziad, Moody, and I, were actually doing was helping our friend move his furniture to a new home. I suggested that we act as if we were taking the furniture out of the house instead of moving it in.
That was the challenge: how they could perform naturally while also expressing emotions through concealing them. That, to me, is acting. I talked to them about how I imagined the characters, what they were feeling, and then left the rest to them. They moved and acted freely, while I simply followed them with the camera.
AM: The film touches on themes of displacement and generational challenges. What emotions or reflections did you aim to evoke through this narrative?
Mahmoud Ibrahim: Honestly, I don’t have messages to convey. I still consider myself young, I’m 24 years old. I am a son of my generation, influenced by what has shaped them. The world is moving and changing rapidly around us, and I try to grasp and understand it through filmmaking. More importantly, I try to take a stance on it.
My generation carries a heavy past on its shoulders, inherited from previous generations, and lives in a present where everything in the world is constantly changing, and we cannot see the future. This is what I wanted to express in this film through the story of the house.
Ziad and Moody are carrying the furniture outside, along with carrying all the memories of the past. At a certain moment in the film, they reflect on their present; they are being forced to leave their home because of things happening in the world that have nothing to do with them. They begin to question their future: Where will they live next? It is a moment after which their lives will never be the same as before.
AM: How has Akher Youm's selection at the Berlinale impacted your perspective on filmmaking and your future creative goals?
Mahmoud Ibrahim: As I mentioned, I’m still young, and this is the first short film I’ve made. Having my first film selected for a festival as big as Berlinale is a significant achievement. I never imagined that this film could make it to Berlinale.
I have already achieved what I once thought was far away. What I truly need to maintain is my freedom, to make the films I want to make and to stay true to my perspective and my cinematic language, without constantly thinking about festivals and major achievements.
Regarding the film industry in Egypt, I think about my friends who are trying to make films. There are thousands of young people in Egypt who want to create films. Unfortunately, the film industry makes them believe that there is only one way to do so, a way that feels distant from them. As a result, major festivals seem out of reach. I believe that, as a new generation of filmmakers, we need to take a more radical approach to cinematic language and the way we make films. We need to carve a path outside of both major production companies and the so-called independent ones that dominate the industry in our country.