Egyptian director Muhammad Mustapha explores how men perform masculinity in his documentary 'Big Boys Don't Cry', which premiered at El Gouna Film Festival after a decade-long development.
01Summary
- 01The documentary follows Cairo bodybuilders and nightclub bouncers and had its world premiere at Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival in the Feature Documentary Competition.
- 02Mustapha began the project in 2016 as an anthropological study of masculinity after his own curiosity about hyper-masculine performance.
- 03He spent a year with central figure Abdallah before filming; their friendship became the emotional core of the film.
- 04Participants could request removal of material during the process, including the final edit, and women were intentionally excluded to preserve an all-male environment.
- 05Mustapha argues that the only emotion men are allowed to express is anger, which he says distorts the male psyche.
02Why it matters
This matters because the documentary challenges restrictive norms around male emotional expression, offering insight into how masculinity is performed and policed in different contexts, both in Egypt and globally.
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