Visiting Director & Producer!
In 2003, Mahmood Soliman’s film Living Among Us tracked the lives of an Egyptian mother and her children. In 2011, he checked back in with the family and began tracking the subjects again. Building a relationship with them over more than a decade, Soliman documents the struggling family as they experience the declining social, political, and economic situation in Egypt. A fascinating portrait of change, the film follows the personal as well as the political. It captures the realities of raising children in poverty and the growth of boys into young men. It documents the hope inspired by the January 25 Revolution, as well as the grim realities of its aftermath. By presenting a detailed record of a single family, We Have Never Been Kids offers an inimitable glimpse into the last decade of Egyptian history.
Directors' Biographies
Mahmood Soliman graduated from the Cinema Institute in Cairo and has directed many short fiction and documentary films. We Have Never Been Kids, his first feature film, has won ten prizes and screened at numerous festivals around the world. Soliman is also a writer and he has published several social, political, and opinion pieces in Arabic newspapers. He has written three short story collections which have garnered multiple literary prizes.
Nivine Afify graduated from Cairo University with a degree in Mass Communication. She has worked as an assistant director for Egyptian television and she has also worked as an interpreter for Egypt's Radio and TV union. As a producer, she has worked on numerous short films that have participated in more than 200 international festivals and she is a key partner in January Films, the production company behind We Have Never Been Kids. Her latest project is a documentary film called Happy New Year, which will be released in 2018.
Sponsors
TWIN CITIES ARAB FILM FEST
Mizna's twelfth Twin Cities Arab Film Fest offers an eclectic program of compelling and provocative contemporary narrative, documentary, and short films made by Arab filmmakers from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia, and more.
Browse Arab Film Fest