If we have to summarize the changes that happened to the Egyptian family over the past decade, the most honest thing to say is this: we don’t know everything. With thousands of articles, books and films trying to explain the reasons behind the rising number of broken marriages, there isn’t one that tries to let the story on its own breathe. Over the past decade, Egypt witnessed an 83% increase in divorce rates between 1996 and 2017, according to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). These alarming numbers, which are often associated with economic and social pressures, as well as unjust and wrongful religious fatwas that justify verbal divorce, prompted the government as well as religious institutions such as Al-Azhar to launch the ‘Mawadda’ initiative in order to raise awareness on the importance of stable marriages. However, art is a medium of expression that allows people and communities to become more aware of their own social realities and problems, and in return, search for their own internal solutions. In his second short film, ‘What We Don’t Know About Mariam’, Egyptian director Morad Mostafa explores family…
‘What We Don’t Know About Mariam’: An Honest Tale on Broken Egyptian Families
December 31, 2020
