Cannes 2025 (Un Certain Regard): Aisha Can’t Fly Away (dir. Morad Mostafa) | Review
Berlinale Talent alumnus Morad Mostafa brings an offbeat yet rebellious film to Un Certain Regard this year, focusing on misogyny and the breaking point of caretakers in the backdrop of a sociopolitically unrestful neighborhood.
Aisha (Buliana Simon) puts her leg upwards against the wall, trying to balance herself while lying on her bed. Despite being in rest mode, her mind is anything but peaceful—thoughts flicker and whizz, leaping from one thing to the next without pause. There are clamors, wails, a hushed cry that builds within her—only a matter of time until a needle punctures, releasing everything in one go.
Berlinale Talent alumnus Morad Mostafa, who has been deeply rooted in the chaos of riots and the struggles of women, returns with Aisha Can’t Fly Away, selected for Un Certain Regard, at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. The film almost feels like a culmination of all his previous works. Aisha, a Sudanese woman living in Cairo, is a caretaker for the elderly. For some time now, she has been pushing through her daily work despite meager pay, all while grappling with personal struggles that refuse to let her rest—a local gang representative, who is also her landlord, threatens Aisha and demands her caregiver’s house key as compensation for overdue rent. Meanwhile, she frequently witnesses violent rifts between African migrants and local gangs, denying her even a moment’s calm. Things escalate to a broader crisis, and Aisha begins to transform—in numerous, unforeseen ways.
At a glance, Aisha’s persistent silence and expressionless endurance recall Charlotte Rampling in Hannah, where her body is a battleground: sorrow wails, anger claws up her throat, and still, a stubborn resilience holds the line of life. Mostafa presents Aisha Can’t Fly Away as a one-woman-show featurette that evokes cinematic brilliance through its imaginative qualities, pushing the audience to the edge of discomfort—through blood and filth. The film weaves in illness and lesions, visual echoes of agony that mirror the silent torment behind Aisha’s eyes as she stands unbroken, enduring at the outermost edge of her strength, similar to David in Michel Franco’s Chronic. The symbolic use of an ostrich—representing a ‘fierce freedom protestor’ reflecting Aisha’s inner desires—is offbeat yet rebellious, fitting the narrative and its imaginative style in a Yin and Yang fusion. Cinematographer Mostafa El Kashef effectively portrays the unrest of migrant neighborhoods through dry, claustrophobic ambiances that elevate the definition of discomfort into a deeper void.
Winner of the 2024 La Biennale di Venezia Prize at the Final Cut programme, Aisha Can’t Fly Away is an uncanny yet revolutionary film that tackles misogyny and the breaking point of a caretaker amidst sociopolitical unrest. Almost auteur and strikingly ingenious, Mostafa showcases underprivileged women walking on eggshells to find space to breathe between thorns and guns. The uncertainties of love, career, safety, and life direction become the fuel for a risky, compromised existence, drawing in every kind of predicament that could bring collapse. Yet, patience is always rewarding, and reformation may arrive at the most unprecedented moment—to remind Aisha that she is not alone. Ever.
Our reporters are on the ground in Cannes, France, to bring you exclusive content from the 78th Cannes Film Festival—explore our coverage here.
