Treat Me Like Your Mother

At a glance

Treat Me Like Your Mother, is a 2025 Lebanese movie, directed by Mohamad Abdouni, and starring Antonella, Em Abed, Jamal Abdo. with a runtime of 75 minutes.

Overview

Treat Me Like Your Mother is a Lebanese documentary film that centres on four trans women — Em Abed, Jamal Abdo, Antonella, and Mama Jad — whose lives in Beirut have been shaped by resilience, love, and loss. Their stories stretch from the Lebanese state's groundbreaking gender-affirming surgery program in 1997 to the gradual erasure of queer-safe spaces in the capital. Weaving together personal photographs, archival footage, and evocative memories of landmarks like the Raouche strip, the film resurrects a largely forgotten history of community and survival through war and oppression. Interwoven with the filmmaker's own journey of self-discovery, this intimate portrait traces four decades of trans life in Beirut, celebrating the enduring bonds of chosen family, identity, and solidarity.

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