Photo Credit: Fatma Abed

[Image Description: Mostafa is pictured from the torso up. He sits at a table with a blue and pink patterned table cloth and a roll of paper towels. He has his elbows on the table and looks to the left with one hand underneath his chin. He wears a brown sweater. He is sitting in an open courtyard that is painted in blue and white. To his left is a graffiti drawing of a cat.]

In this episode, I speak with the film director & co-founder of Seen Films, Mostafa Youssef. We chat about his near lifelong love of film, the entertainment industry in Egypt and its impact throughout the Arab-speaking world, and the unique challenges of filmmakers on the Continent. We also get into the many artist development programs and resources that are under the Seen Films umbrella including a free-to-use opensource post-production unit and their magazine, Terr.so, the only online magazine and portal on cinema, audiovisual media, film criticism, and filmmaking in Arabic. Mostafa is also the producer of Homemade Stories which will have its world premiere at IDFA 2021. Mostafa is a Bruce Springsteen fan, so this week’s song is “Hello Sunshine.”