News from Civsy, based on generative AI tools and retrieval-augumented real time data searchThe censorship of Co-directed with a Ghost at the 26th Ismailia International Film Festival illustrates how Egyptian authorities continue to exert quiet but decisive control over which images and stories reach local audiences, even inside an international event designed to celebrate cinematic experimentation and independent voices. The case exposes the gap between the symbolic recognition of a film as “Best Film” and the practical reality that the very same work can be barred from public view through an opaque, unaccountable permitting system.
A film that was never meant to exist
Co-directed with a Ghost is a short film by Egyptian director Mohammed Salah, built from visual material that was originally never intended to become a film at all, simple takes with a non-professional actor that gradually evolved into a reflection on memory, presence, and disappearance. Emerging from Alexandria’s independent film milieu, Salah’s work sits within a broader wave of low-budget, formally inventive short films that document the atmosphere of a city and a generation living with erosion, loss and everyday precarity. The film’s title and process, “co-directed” with a ghost, point to an aesthetic that embraces the accidental and the marginal, treating discarded footage and ghostly traces as legitimate grounds for cinema.
Ismailia festival: recognition without access
The Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts is one of Egypt’s longest-standing film events, founded in the late 1980s to support documentary and short-form work and held annually in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. The festival’s mandate is to showcase significant Egyptian and international films, foster professional dialogue, and provide a rare space for formally daring work that rarely reaches commercial cinemas. For its 26th edition, scheduled for 5–11 February 2025, the festival invited submissions from around the world and positioned itself as a regional hub for non-fiction and short-form cinema.
Within this framework, Co-directed with a Ghost entered the short fiction competition and went on to win the festival’s Best Film Award in its category, as announced by the festival’s official social media channels. The jury’s decision effectively recognised Salah’s film as a standout achievement in the programme, confirming its artistic merit and importance for contemporary Egyptian cinema. Yet the same film was simultaneously denied a permit for public screening by the General Directorate for the Censorship of Artistic Works, meaning festival audiences could not watch the work that had just been declared the best of its section.
Censorship by silence
In Egypt, any film screened publicly, whether in commercial theatres, cultural venues or film festivals, must obtain a licence from the censorship authority, and, in practice, also navigate the overlapping approvals of professional syndicates and, in many cases, security bodies. This system has long been described as a “bureaucratic labyrinth” whose opacity and discretionary power create a chilling effect on artistic production and exhibition. Recent monitoring by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) shows that censorship bodies continue to interfere in film content and to ban or delay screenings on political, religious or moral grounds, often without giving detailed written reasons.
The handling of Co-directed with a Ghost followed this pattern of censorship by silence. The Board of Censorship refused to grant the necessary permit for a public screening during Ismailia, and no formal explanation was made public. This left both the filmmaker and the festival with no clear grounds on which to contest the decision, and it denied the local audience access to a film produced in their own country and honoured on their own festival stage. In response, the festival reportedly resorted to a closed jury screening as the only safe way to show the film within the event’s framework, effectively acknowledging the censorship while seeking a minimal workaround that preserved the competition process.
Part of a broader shrinking space
The case of Co-directed with a Ghost fits a broader trend in which Egyptian authorities maintain constitutional references to freedom of creativity while tightening control over cultural institutions, festivals and independent platforms. AFTE’s 2024 reporting documents bans and forced edits on films, along with sanctions against publishers and artists, demonstrating how administrative decisions and professional syndicate powers are used to limit what can be publicly shown or sold. Earlier research on Egypt’s censorship system has described it as “highly damaging for artistic creativity,” highlighting the cumulative impact of prior censorship, security vetting, and informal pressures on filmmakers and producers.
In this context, the Ismailia incident is not an isolated bureaucratic mishap but part of a pattern in which recognition and restriction coexist: independent films may win awards abroad or even at home, yet remain largely unseen by the public that produced them. Co-directed with a Ghost thus becomes more than a nine‑minute short; it stands as evidence of how contemporary Egyptian cinema is being shaped by invisible decisions, where absence, the film that could not be seen, speaks as loudly as any image that makes it to the screen.
References:
At Egypt’s 26th Ismailia International Film Festival, Mohammed Salah’s short film Co-directed with a Ghost received the award for Best Film, but festival audiences never got to see it. Egypt’s censorship authorities refused to grant a permit for public screening and gave no explanation, forcing the festival to show the film only to the jury behind closed doors.
This case captures how recognition and restriction now coexist in Egypt’s film landscape: independent works can be celebrated on stage while being quietly removed from public space through administrative decisions that cannot be meaningfully challenged. For artists, programmers and rights advocates, it is another reminder that the battle over artistic freedom is increasingly fought in permit offices and censorship boards rather than courtrooms or public debates.
#ArtisticFreedom #FilmCensorship #Egypt #IsmailiaFilmFestival #HumanRights #FreedomOfExpression #IndependentFilm #CulturalRights #MimetaMemos
AFTE, “Growing violations… The third quarterly report on the state of freedom of expression in Egypt”, 2024.afteegypt
Cinelogue, “Co-directed with a Ghost – film description”.cinelogue
Ismailia International Film Festival – Facebook post announcing short fiction awards, including Co-directed with a Ghost as Best Film.facebook
Cinelogue programme note situating Co-directed with a Ghost in Alexandria-focused shorts.cinelogue
Ismailia International Film Festival – historical overview and mandate.ismailiafilmfest
Mimeta, “ElMaraya Ban Highlights Political Censorship in Egypt”, 2025.mimeta
Festagent / festival listings for Ismailia International Film Festival dates and format.festagent
Ijnet call for entries for the 26th Ismailia International Film Festival, 2025.ijnet
Freemuse & AFTE, Censors of Creativity study on Egyptian artistic censorship.freemuse
IFEX summary of Censors of Creativity and commentary on Egypt’s censorship system.ifex
