46 CIFF Film Review: 'The Unnamed' Echoes Tender Portrait of Mother & Daughter Fighting 2 Battles at Once

The short film “The Unnamed”, directed by Abanoub Nabil, competed this year in the Short Film Competition of the 46th Cairo International Film Festival. 

Marking its world premiere, the film introduced a heartfelt and emotionally layered story brought to life by Tia, Marwa Mostafa, and Nader Abou El-Leef.

At its core, the film explores the bond between a dancer and her daughter, Janna, whose life takes an unexpected turn when her mother’s world collapses. 

What begins as a desperate attempt to help her ailing mother transforms into a profound journey of self-discovery. 

Janna, driven by love, steps into a role far larger than her years, finding in her mother’s pain a mirror for her own awakening.

The film masterfully captures the interdependence between mother and daughter, the mother’s passion for dance is fueled by her daughter’s encouragement, while the daughter discovers new depths of herself through her mother’s struggle. 

In several scenes, Janna seems to become the observer, almost a guardian, watching her mother’s illness unfold as she fights her own emotional battles.

One of the film’s most striking sequences follows Janna as she embarks on a near-heroic mission to deliver a medical sample taken from her mother’s body to the lab. 

The journey becomes a symbolic battlefield, she clashes with a theme-park worker, confronts her father’s absence and repeated disappointments, and pushes through the chaos of Cairo with quiet determination. 

Her fight mirrors her mother’s: one battles cancer, the other battles the world around her to help.

With minimal dialogue, the film leans heavily on atmosphere, silence, and the visual language of the city. 

The cinematography wraps us in the relentless noise and congestion of Cairo, yet focuses intimately on Janna’s internal world, her fear, her resolve, her exhaustion.

Through carefully framed shots and subtle movement, the director’s camera conveys the depth of the girl’s emotional struggle, allowing us to feel the weight she carries.

“The Unnamed” is a tender, raw, and beautifully crafted short film. 

It blends realism with poetic sensitivity, portraying two intertwined journeys—one of illness, one of growth, and showing how, in the heart of a chaotic city, love becomes both the burden and the strength that keeps them moving forward.