Private Project

Closure

A grieving moment where old home videos blend with hallucinations and bring back memories. The sea that looks quiet on the surface still keeps the voices of dropped friends underwater.

Can one get over the black-and-whiteness of life after broken bonds?

  • Amal Ramsis
    Producer
  • Ebtesam Mokhtar
    Producer
  • Ebtesam Mokhtar
    Director
  • Ebtesam Mokhtar
    Writer
  • Shadi Farid
    Sound Mixing
  • Mina Nabil
    Color Grading
  • Ebtesam Mokhtar
    Cinematographer
  • Ebtesam Mokhtar
    Editor
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    خلاص
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Poetic
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 30, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Egypt
  • Country of Filming:
    Egypt
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - The Creative Documentary Workshop, organized by the Between Women Filmmakers Caravan
Director Biography - Ebtesam Mokhtar

Ebtesam Mokhtar is a filmmaker, writer and visual artist from Egypt.

Based in Cairo, she works with different mediums, including video, photography, sound, paint and text.

With a B.A. from the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, she completed a year-long program at the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CILAS). She also completed the year-long Creative Documentary Workshop organized by the Between Women Filmmakers Caravan in Cairo.

Besides directing her 2015 graduation project, "I Didn’t Know Cairo Was that Big", Mokhtar wrote, filmed, edited and directed "Closure", her short documentary debut, in 2022.

When Ebtesam is not working on her own projects, you will find her coordinating a workshop or programming a festival for the Between Women Filmmakers Caravan, where she is the programs coordinator and selection committee.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I first pursued this movie as a personal project to document a peculiar, painful trip that I had to Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria in 2018. That was my intention when I filmed some videos and collected tickets, receipts and other bits and pieces from the city back then. It was not until a few years passed that I realized I could use this material beyond my art journal and personal archive.

I traveled solo to Alexandria in the middle of a period marked by frequent losses. I had lost my father to cancer, ended my five-year relationship and left the startup I co-founded. In a city where I had no previous memories, I took time to disconnect and reflect, knowing that I was on the verge of yet another breakup. That time it was with my closest friends. Shortly after I came back to Cairo, we did split.

Looking back at that escape to Alexandria, I realized it was not only about what I had already lost before I decided to go away. It was also about the loss I felt coming.

What really stood out to me was that I felt that people recognized my grief for my father and maybe for my former lover, while it rarely looked like they understood what it means to lose a friend.

It is this subtle grief that I tackle with this movie: grieving a dear friend who has become a stranger, reflecting on how one can intentionally choose to part ways with somebody and still feel profound sorrow for losing them. The film shows how empty and dismal life can be after estrangement.