I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face is a 2020 short film (15 minutes) from Egypt, directed by Sameh Alaa.
Adam is a young man in Cairo. The film opens with a phone call from a young woman who commiserates about how they've been separated for "two months", explains that she stole her mother's cell phone to call him, and asks if he has any ideas about "escape".
Cut forward to Adam, at home alone in a shabby apartment after his mother goes out. He retrieves an item from the clothesline—namely, a burka. He then puts the burka on. The reason why he disguises himself as a woman is surprising.
Tropes:
- all lowercase letters: All the credits, including the title, are presented this way.
- Aside Glance: The film cuts from Adam on the roof retrieving the laundry, to Adam in the apartment wearing the burka—and looking over his shoulder straight at the camera. Then he turns away and puts the burka's hood on.
- Disguised in Drag: Adam puts on a burka and pretends to be a woman, so he can bid farewell to the lover he was prevented from being with in life.
- Downer Ending: Adam, disguised in his burka, kisses his dead girlfriend's face. The film ends with Adam getting off the bus and taking the hood of his burka off, revealing a tear-stained face.
- Extremely Short Timespan: A few hours, as Adam goes to his girlfriend's funeral.
- The Faceless: For the one scene in which she appears, Adam's mother is shot so that her face is not shown.
- Hiding in a Hijab: Adam puts a burka on, so he can go to the all-female wake for his girlfriend.
- Jitter Cam: The only times in the film when the camera moves are the shot where a disguised Adam enters the apartment to see his beloved, and the scene where he leaves and walks out the alley. The camera follows him in a jittery manner both times.
- Leave the Camera Running: Most of the film consists of long static shots. There are only 21 shots in a 15-minute film, and for almost all of them the camera doesn't move.
- Noodle Incident: How did Adam's girlfriend die? Presumably she killed herself after coming to believe that they would never be together, but the film never explains.
- The Quiet One: Adam has only one line of dialogue in the film, when he tells his mother not to bother him in the bathroom (he snuck in there to listen to his girlfriend's message). Of course, for most of the movie he can't talk, because he'd give his disguise away.
- Reality Has No Soundtrack: The short has no score.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Adam and his girlfriend were kept apart by their families. Eventually the girlfriend dies, presumably by suicide.
