By: Yomna Walid
Capturing truth on camera is no simple task. Reality carries too many layers, too many details, and too many silences that resist being scripted. Yet for Egyptian director Mohamed Rashad, that challenge led him all the way to the Berlinale and now back to Cairo, where his acclaimed workplace thriller The Settlement is set to screen for local audiences.
Egypt's Only Film at Berlin
The film made history as the only Egyptian title selected for the Perspectives section at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. Inspired by a true story, it follows two brothers, 23-year-old Hossam and his 12-year-old sibling Maro, as they navigate life in a marginalised Alexandrian community. After their father is killed in a workplace accident, the factory responsible offers them jobs in place of accountability, setting the stage for a tense and emotionally charged unraveling as the brothers begin to question the truth behind his death.
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Going Deeper with the Director
NileFM spoke exclusively with Rashad to go behind the scenes of the film's success and the true story that first moved him to make it.
When Actors and Workers Taught Each Other
The Settlement took five years to bring to the screen, and one of Rashad's boldest decisions was casting rising actors alongside real factory workers. This was not merely an artistic flourish but a practical necessity.
"The truth is that bringing in actors to work alongside the workers was essential," he explains. "I needed the people who appear working in the factory to seem genuinely real, and for the work on the machines to look natural. Honestly, the blend between actors and workers created something really beautiful. Each group was learning from the other. The workers were often teaching the actors how to operate the machines, while the actors were sometimes showing the workers how to get into character and carry themselves in front of the camera."
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The Faces Behind the Story
The film features rising talents Adham Shukr, Ziad Islam, Hajar Omar, Hanaday Abd El Khalek, Mohamed Abdel Hady, and Emad Ghoneim, with cinematography by Mahmoud Lotfi and editing by Heba Othman. It is a co-production between Egypt, France, Germany, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, produced by Hala Lotfy of Hassala Films alongside international partners.
Why Unknown Faces Were the Only Choice
Choosing unknown faces was also deliberate. "Casting new actors was intentional because I needed performers who would come across as real people, with no prior baggage in the audience's mind from previous roles that might prevent them from being believed. That probably comes from my documentary background," Rashad says. "The preparation involved an enormous number of rehearsals. We talked through the characters in depth, built full histories for each one, so that every actor knew their character's backstory. That really helped them inhabit their roles."
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A Filmmaker Who Fears Preachiness Above All
Rashad's documentary roots run deep. His debut film "Little Eagles" examined leftist activism through his own family history, and The Settlement continues that thread, turning its lens on labour exploitation and working-class grief in Alexandria's industrial neighbourhoods. Asked how he approached a story so politically charged without letting it tip into preachiness, he is direct about his instincts.
"Honestly, the thing I fear most is being heavy-handed, and that's something I'm constantly trying to avoid. No matter what issues or subjects I address, it's always through human stories, emotions, and feelings. That's what draws me in first. At the core, I'm building a story: a narrative, relationships, characters. Then, after that, I try to understand why the characters behaved the way they did, and what lies beneath the events they're caught up in. The story always comes first, and the theme grows out of it, never the other way around."
From Berlin to Cairo, a Festival Triumph
The film's festival journey has been remarkable. Following its Berlinale premiere, The Settlement won the Audience Award at the sixth MiWorld Young Film Festival, screened at Italy's African, Asian, and Latin American Film Festival (FESCAAL) and Spain's Afrikaldia Film Festival, where it claimed a second Audience Award, received the Silver Whirl Award at the Oran International Arab Film Festival, and took home the Bronze Star for Best Narrative Film at Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival. Critics across the region have praised it as "an Egyptian feature that deserves to be celebrated," highlighting its emotional depth and striking visual storytelling.
The Message That Cannot Be Reduced to One Line
Now, as stories about marginalised communities and corporate accountability continue to resonate globally, the film arrives in Cairo carrying the weight of all that recognition. For Rashad, the question of what he wants audiences to take away does not have a single, simple answer, and he is comfortable with that.
"I don't believe a film tries to deliver a single message. What I mean by 'message' here isn't a direct, preachy one, but rather the feeling, the emotional state, or the question the film places you in. I can't say there's one definitive thing I want to say. But what I can point to is one of the most important root causes of human suffering across the world: capitalism, which reduces all of us to mere objects moving in its service. That applies to workers and employees, and sometimes to ourselves personally."
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Photo Credit: Mohamed Rashad's official page

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