The Virgin, the Copts and Me

Namir is Egyptian, a Copt and now lives in France.[2][3][4][6][7][8][9] When there is a family reunion, he buys an old video cassette recorded many years earlier at a religious holiday in his home village, when his mother said she had had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[2][3][4][8][9] Namir realizes he has in his hands a very interesting subject for a documentary: he convinces his producer that it is a good idea and sets off on a journey that takes him back to his origins and puts his profession as a director to the test.[2][3][4][6][7][9] However, he has not reckoned with his mother, the real protagonist of the story.[2][3][4][9][10] Eventually, in her hometown, they recreate an apparition with the help of the other villagers.[2][3][9]

• Shown at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, the Festival Cinema Africano, the 2012 EBS International Documentary Festival, the 2012 Kraków Film Festival and at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.[2][3][4][7][9] It will be shown at the 2013 Sydney Film Festival.[6][11]
• Variety drew a parallel between the Coptic minority in Egypt and the Egyptian minority in France, and they commended the editing.[5] For Slant Magazine, the staged apparition brings the film to a "satisfying climax".[9] The Huffington Post commended the director's decision to keep the footage filmed in 2010, prior to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.[11] For America, the "Coptic population" is "held together by a shared sense of self-abnegation and unwavering faith" and it is "faith that remains a rallying force for the Copts on the screen" despite their "victimized status as a religious minority".[12]

https://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/3110681: the Virgin Mary is venerated by Egyptian Muslims and Christians, and visiting places of which is believed the Virgin Mary appeared, is a further point that unite both religious elements.

• Namir Abdel Messeeh's official blog