Egyptian Mohamed Siam's project to receive support from Cannes Film Festival

CAIRO - 28 March 2020: Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam's project named Carnival is to receive support from Cinefondation's Atelier, which is one of the initiatives of Cannes International Film Festival.

Atelier initiative is tailor made to connect filmmakers with producers to help them in the development of their films.


Siam is an Egyptian feature and documentary films director. He studied in a number of global prestigious film institutions such as Sundance Labs, IDFA Academy, Doc Campus, Berlinale and Durban Talent Campus.

Siam's first documentary was “Balad Meen” (Whose Country) which participated in a number of renowned festivals and was awarded a prize at the 28th edition of Carthage International Film Festival.

“Balad Meen” revolves around Egyptian police elements' work and daily lives, shedding light on a number of important reasons that led to the emergence of January 25 revolution.

In 2017, Siam garnered worldwide fame for his second movie “Amal” which was the opening movie at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. “Amal” traces the life of a troubled Egyptian teenage girl during the January 2011 revolution and accompanies her on a six-year life journey to search for her identity in a country going through a transition stage.

“Amal” received a number of awards such as Robert Bosch Film Prize, the AfriDocs prize at Durban FilmMart and Thessaloniki Docs-In-Progress award.

Siam is a member of a number of committees and associations of documentaries in the Arab region, and is a lecturer in universities in New York, Paris, Beirut and Egypt.

In his interview with Tess Magazine, Siam previously announced that he is currently working on his first long feature movie which will focus on police in Egypt, considering it the final chapter in the trilogy he started with “Balad Meen” then “Amal”.