By: Yomna Walid&nbsp;
A childhood passion for photography helped set Egyptian director Mohamed Taher on the path to filmmaking. Now, his directorial debut, &lsquo;32B: Mashakel Dakheliyya&rsquo;, has earned international recognition, winning Best Narrative Short at the 2026 Tribeca Festival and qualifying for consideration at the Academy Awards.
Taher&rsquo;s journey from taking photographs with his father&rsquo;s camera at the age of nine to directing an award-winning short film marks a significant milestone in his career. Following its success at Tribeca, &lsquo;32B&rsquo; continued its international festival run, with an official selection at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles in August 2026.
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Written by Haitham Dabbour, the film stars Mohamed Mamdouh, Hana Shiha, Ahmed Dash, Gehad Hossam El Din and Jessica Hosam El Din. Blending dark comedy with poignant family drama, it explores the emotional complexities of parenthood and the relationship between parents and their children.
The film is set to become available to stream online on Thursday, 22 October 2026.
In an exclusive interview with NileFM, Taher discusses his journey into filmmaking, the creative decisions behind &lsquo;32B: Mashakel Dakheliyya&rsquo; and the film&rsquo;s growing international recognition.
What first inspired you to become a director, and how has your journey evolved since then?
I started taking photographs when I was nine years old, using my father&rsquo;s camera. I always loved documenting moments and was fascinated by people&rsquo;s reactions when they saw their pictures. As I grew older, this passion evolved into making short videos on my home computer using simple editing software, putting together scenes from my favorite films and adding music to them. I loved the process and received compliments for my work.
After graduating, I worked as an accountant at a petroleum company for four years. Eventually, I realized that I wasn&rsquo;t emotionally connected to my job, so I started searching for something that truly reflected my passion. I went back to school to study cinema, initially focusing on cinematography, then producing, before finally settling on directing during my MFA.
I have always been fascinated by human behavior and by how cinema can express emotions that people struggle to articulate, as well as the contradictions that exist within us.
My journey has taken me through different roles in the film industry, including working as an assistant director on feature films and directing second units for television. Those experiences taught me a great deal about storytelling, actors, and the filmmaking process. But they also made me increasingly aware of the stories I wanted to tell myself.
As I continue to develop my work, I find myself increasingly drawn to stories about human vulnerability, emotional distance, and the ways we struggle to connect with one another.
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What first drew you to the story of&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;?
What drew me to&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;was the contradiction at the heart of its story. A father wants to do the right thing for his daughter, but he has no idea how to approach a subject that should be completely natural. Something as simple as buying a piece of clothing becomes an emotional obstacle because neither of them knows how to communicate about it.
Haitham Dabbour captured this struggle beautifully in his script, and I completely fell in love with it. When I first read it, I was struck by how something so ordinary could reveal much deeper issues within a family and the society they live in. The father is simply unequipped to deal with a situation that challenges everything he understands about being a parent.
The film explores the relationship between parents and their children. How do you see this relationship changing today?
I think the relationship is changing, but not necessarily as quickly as we might imagine. Children today have access to information, ideas, and conversations that previous generations could barely imagine. They are growing up in a world that is more connected, yet that doesn&rsquo;t automatically mean they feel more understood by their parents.
In many families, there is still a gap between what parents want their children to know and what they feel comfortable talking to them about. Parents often believe they are protecting their children by avoiding difficult conversations, when that silence can sometimes leave children feeling alone with their questions.
I also think becoming a parent has made me look at this relationship differently. You begin to realize that parenting isn&rsquo;t simply about knowing what to teach your children; it&rsquo;s also about confronting your own fears, insecurities, and limitations.
&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;won Best Narrative Short at Tribeca. What has this recognition meant to you personally and professionally?
Winning Best Narrative Short at Tribeca was an incredibly meaningful moment for me. Seeing&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;connect with the jury at a festival like Tribeca was deeply rewarding, and it has definitely given my career a push forward. The award has also given the film a new level of visibility.
But what I value most is that a story rooted in a very specific Egyptian social and cultural context has resonated internationally.
On a personal level, the recognition means a great deal because this is my first short film as a director. There is something particularly special about seeing your first film find its way into the world and be embraced by audiences and industry professionals beyond the context in which it was made.
For me, the award isn&rsquo;t a destination as much as an encouragement to keep taking creative risks and telling stories that feel honest.
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The film is a dark comedy. What was the biggest challenge in telling this story through the genre?
The biggest challenge was finding the right balance between humor and discomfort without undermining the emotional reality of the characters.
The situation in&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;is inherently awkward, and that awkwardness can be funny. But I never wanted the daughter or the father to become the punchline. The humor needed to emerge naturally from the father&rsquo;s confusion, his attempts to navigate an unfamiliar situation, and the social expectations that have shaped his behavior.
For me, dark comedy works best when the audience can laugh at a situation and then realize there is something much more uncomfortable underneath it. You recognize the absurdity of what is happening, but you also understand why the characters are behaving that way.
The challenge was to avoid exaggerating the comedy or making the film feel like a sketch. We needed to preserve the emotional truth of the relationship and allow the awkward silences, gestures, and small misunderstandings to carry as much weight as the dialogue.
I wanted the audience to laugh, but also to recognize something familiar in that laughter. Perhaps a memory of a conversation they never had with their parents, or one they are still struggling to have with their own children.
That tension between laughter and discomfort is what makes the story meaningful to me.
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The film&rsquo;s festival journey continues with its selection for the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival and the Fun Cinema International Comedy Film Festival. What are you hoping for as the film continues its journey?
I&rsquo;m grateful that&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;continues to find new audiences and that its journey is taking it into different cultural contexts. Every festival brings a new conversation, and I&rsquo;m always curious to see how people respond to a story that begins in such a specific Egyptian setting.
What excites me most is the possibility of the film connecting with audiences who may have grown up in very different circumstances but recognize the same emotional dynamics within their own families. The details may change from one culture to another, but the difficulty of talking to our children about uncomfortable subjects is something many people can relate to.
I&rsquo;m also happy to see the film reaching festivals that approach cinema from different perspectives. Its recognition at Tribeca was a major milestone, and its continued selection at international festivals allows the film to keep evolving through its encounters with audiences.
Ultimately, I hope&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;continues to travel. If the film can make someone laugh, reflect on their own relationship with their family, and feel a little less alone in their difficulties, then I think it has accomplished something worthwhile.
At the same time, this journey has been an important experience for me as a director. It has strengthened my belief in telling culturally specific stories with emotional honesty and trusting that their humanity can reach far beyond their original setting.
What were the biggest challenges you faced while making&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;?
One of the biggest challenges was recreating Cairo in 2005 in a way that felt authentic without making the period feel overly constructed. Working with our production designer, Asem Ali, was essential in building that world through the details of the locations, the production design, and the atmosphere of the time.
Another important challenge was finding the right visual language for the story with our cinematographer, Mostafa Fahmy. I wanted the cinematography to do more than simply capture the action; it needed to communicate what the characters couldn&rsquo;t express verbally, and Mostafa did an amazing job of bringing that vision to life.
For example, in the lingerie shop scene, we used lighting and composition to add layers of discomfort and awkwardness to an already uncomfortable situation. I wanted the audience to feel the father&rsquo;s unease rather than simply observe it.
Can you take us behind the scenes of working with Mohamed Mamdouh, Hana Shiha, Ahmed Dash, and the rest of the cast and crew?
Working with this cast was a wonderful experience. Each actor brought something unique to their character, and what mattered most to me was creating an environment where they could explore the emotions and awkwardness of the story naturally.
Mohamed Mamdouh has a remarkable ability to communicate so much through small gestures and expressions, which was particularly important for a character who struggles to express himself verbally. Hana Shiha and Ahmed Dash also brought their own sensibilities to the film, helping us build believable characters.
I remember how Hana brought so many little details to her character, from the way she spoke to the occasional French words she slipped into her conversations. Those small choices added another layer to the character and made her feel more authentic.
I believe filmmaking is a collaborative process, and I&rsquo;m grateful to the entire cast and crew for their trust and commitment. Everyone contributed to creating the world of&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;and making its emotional contradictions feel real.
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You previously worked with Mohamed Mamdouh. How was this experience different from your previous collaboration?
Having worked with Mohamed Mamdouh before, I already had a great appreciation for his talent and his understanding of characters.
What I particularly appreciated about working with him on&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;was his ability to find humor in the character without turning him into a caricature. The father is awkward and often lost, but he is also vulnerable and sincere. Mohamed understood that balance beautifully.
For me, it was a valuable experience to move from working with an actor in a previous professional capacity to directing him and building a character together.
If you could make a film about one social issue, what would you choose to explore?
I would continue exploring the emotional distance between parents and their children, particularly the things we inherit from our families without even realizing it.
I&rsquo;m fascinated by how our upbringing shapes the way we communicate, express affection, and deal with vulnerability. I think there are so many stories to tell about the gap between the parents we want to be and the parents we actually become.
What do you hope audiences take away from&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;?
I hope audiences leave the film thinking about their own relationships with their parents or children. If&nbsp;&lsquo;32B&rsquo;&nbsp;makes people laugh, recognize a little of themselves in its characters, and perhaps feel encouraged to have a conversation they&rsquo;ve been putting off, then I&rsquo;ll be very happy.
For me, that&rsquo;s what makes telling these stories worthwhile.
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Photo Credit: Mohamed Taher's official page&nbsp;

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