Sudanese Films & Directors We Should All Know
In a recent episode of Kawalis — afikra’s Movie Night podcast — we interviewed the founders of Aflam Sudan Rafa Renas and Brahim "Snoopy" Ahmad, a festival that celebrates Sudanese cinema. They recommended their favorite Sudanese films, which we’ve combined with some suggestions from our community in the hopes of making this a growing resource on cinema in and about Sudan.
The Station (Al Mahatta)
“Sudan, in the late 1980s. People cross the desert on foot or cover long distances by car and truck. In Al Mahatta, Eltayeb Mahdi shows encounters at one of the large crossroads between the capital Khartoum in the centre of the country and Bur Sudan on the Red Sea. The filmmaker studied in Cairo and became part of the Sudanese Film Group (SFG), which was founded in April 1989 with the intention of telling stories about their country and confronting young people with the realities of their homeland. Identity formation – not through the detour of referencing Europe or America, but with a view to the situation in their own country. The Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art digitally restored seven works by these Sudanese filmmakers in 2018. Al Mahatta was one of them, having received a special mention from the Interfilm jury at the 35th West German Educational Film Festival in Oberhausen in 1989 and was subsequently awarded numerous prizes in Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Damascus among others.” (Via Berlinale)
A Camel
“The short film Jamal (1981) by Ibrahim Shaddad, founding member of the Sudanese Film Group, is a report from the life of a camel, most of which plays out in a dreary, small room – a sesame mill.” (Via MUBI)
It Still Rotates
“Suliman Elnour’s graduation film Wa lakin alardh tadur (1978) depicts everyday life at the time in a school in Yemen.” (via MUBI)
aKasha
“A Kasha is a universal offbeat love story set in a time of civil war - but the war is in Sudan and it is happening right now. We follow Adnan, an AK47-loving rebel, his long-suffering love interest, Lina, and the armydodging Absi, over a fateful 24 hours in a rebel-held area of Sudan.” (via IMDb)
Beats of the Antonov
“Over two years, Sudanese filmmaker Hajooj Kuka lived alongside farmers, herders, and rebels displaced to the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountain regions, filming their lives within hillside hide-outs and refugee camps.” (Via Human Rights Watch Film Festival)
You Will Die at 20
“Based on Sudanese writer Hammour Ziada's short story, 'Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain', 'You Will Die at Twenty' follows the life of Muzamil (Mustafa Shehata) from birth until his twentieth birthday. Muzamil's religious Sufi village lies between the Blue and White Nile in Al Jazira state, Sudan, and at the boy's baptism ceremony, a sheik prophesizes that Muzamil will meet an early death at the age of twenty. Beholden to the grim fate, his mother, Sakina (Islam Mubarak), becomes overprotective and forbids his education or travelling, and his despairing father, Alnoor (Talal Afifi), leaves home for many years. The villagers taunt Muzamil, referring to him as 'son of death', and he becomes increasingly isolated, with only the opportunity to study the Koran. The quality of his life changes when he meets Suliman (Mahmoud Elsaraj), a Sudanese cinematographer, who imparts his passion for cinema and existential ideas with the curious teenager. A conflict grows within Muzamil between his traditional values and newfound modern aspirations. Will he have the time to act out his desires?” (via Apple TV)
Journey to Kenya
“Inspired by the soul of the Sudanese revolution a Sudanese Jujitsu team with no fund provided tried to travel by an old van to participate in a Jujitsu championship in Nairobi, willing to cross three countries with no enough money , food or water just the revolutionary spirit and their will to dedicate something the Martyr's of the Sudanese revolution of 2019.” (Via Film Freeway)
Talking About Trees
Image via IDFA
Talking About Trees (الحديث عن الأشجار) is a 2019 documentary directed by Suhaib Gasmelbari that follows retired filmmakers Ibrahim Shada, Manar Al Hilo, Suleiman Mohamed Ibrahim and Altayeb Mahdi — members of the Sudanese Film Group — "whose infectious enthusiasm for cinema is a joy to behold".
“ It is really a film that speaks about what cinema means to us; about the beauty of experiencing a film collectively, rather than watching it on our iPads...cellphones; that the importance of having that with us is so vital. ”
The film follows these men as they work to reopen an outdoor cinema in Omdurman, restore old film stock and celebrate Sudanese film history. This is a documentary about cinema, modern Sudanese history and the powerful experiences of these men as oppositional artists. And as a film critic from Variety Magazine put it, the film "speaks to all of us about what cinema means to us." It won the Berlinale Best Documentary Award in 2019.
الحديث عن الأشجار وثائقي من إنتاج سنة ٢٠١٩، أخرجه السينمائي السوداني صهيب قاسم الباري، يحكي قصة مجموعة من صانعي الأفلام المتقاعدين مثل ابراهيم شداد ومنار الحلو وسليمان محمد إبراهيم والطيب مهدي - مجموعة من صناع الأفلام السودانيين - الذين يملأهم الشغف للسينما. يتابع الفيلم سعي هؤلاء الرجال لإعادة إفتتاح سينما في الهواء الطلق في أم درمان، وجهودهم لترميم مجموعة قديمة من الأفلام التي تحكي عن تاريخ السينما في السودان. إنه فيلم وثائقي عن السينما والتاريخ السوداني الحديث والتجربة الغنية لهؤلاء الرجال كفانين معارضين. والفيلم، كما وصفه النقاد في عدة مجلات متخصصة، "يحكي لنا جميعا ماذا تعني السينما لكل منا ". وقد فاز سنة ٢٠١٩ بجائزة مهرجان برلين السينمائي لأفضل فيلم وثائقي
