...And I Was Left Behind

When I was a child, my grandmother would tell me stories of longing and loss of relatives during desert travels and sea voyages. Now I am an adult, her words finally make sense to me.

  • Maysaa Almumin
    Director
  • Maysaa Almumin
    Writer
  • Maysaa Almumin
    Producer
  • Maysaa Almumin
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    راحوا و خلوني
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 48 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 19, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    Kuwait
  • Country of Filming:
    Qatar
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cairo International Film Festival
    Cairo
    Egypt
    November 27, 2021
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Doc 10 Chicago
    Chicago
    United States
    May 22, 2022
    USA première
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Maysaa Almumin

Maysaa Almumin was born in Kuwait, lived in the UK, and currently resides in Qatar. She is the writer, director, and producer of several short films, including ‘...And I Am Left Behind’, which was made in participation with Rithy Panh’s Doha Film Institute Documentary Lab in 2021, and 'J’ai le Cafard' (Bint Werdan), which was awarded production grants from the Arab Fund for Art and Culture and the Doha Film Institute, premiering at the 2020 Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden.

Maysaa is also an actor and has performed in numerous short films made by up-and-coming Arab directors, including the award-winning 'Sh’hab' and 'Black Veil’.

Maysaa is currently developing her first feature film, 'Good Grief', which follows the story of a middle-aged unmarried Arab woman, attempting to exist on the margins of a conservative Arab society.

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Director Statement

Having family in different parts of the world has always meant that travel was a necessity to see each other. During the time of COVID-19, and a global travel ban, physical distance became unbearable, as was the uncertainty of when and if we would see each other again.

Unable to bid goodbye to relatives who succumbed to the coronavirus brought back memories of my grandmother telling us stories of family members who travelled, never to be seen again, the perils of travel and the emotional pain she endured.

I am now the same age my grandmother was when I was a child, listening to her stories as she made dresses on her sewing machine. It is only now that her words resonate, more than forty years later.