Discoveries from Sudan World Cinema

A short documentary on the practice of Zar in Sudan.

In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa is raised on heroic tales of battling British colonizers told by her grandmother, the village matriarch Al-Sit. But when a young businessman arrives from abroad with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the center of a power play to determine the future of the village. Awakening to her own strength, Nafisa sets out to save the cotton fields – and herself. Neither she nor her community will ever be the same again.

Shortly after Muzamil was born, the village's holy man predicts that he will die at age 20. Muzamil's father can't stand the curse and leaves home. Sakina raises her son as a single mother, overly protective. One day, Muzamil turns 19.

When a mysterious train accident forces a man to change his plans, he is confronted with a series of choices. Each decision he makes leads to a different scenario, each one filmed by a different director with a different cast.

Beginning of the 20th century in the east of Sudan. Tajouj is the beautiful cousin of a young tribesman who falls in love with her and proclaims his love out loud in a song. However, the traditions of his tribe forbid such love, and his uncle refuses his request to marry Tajouj. But after the young man leaves the village and declares his remorse, the marriage is finally allowed after all. In the meantime, however, another man has expressed interest in Tajouj. A story full of jealousy ensues, which ends in tragedy.

Merowe Dam in North Sudan. Maher works in a traditional brickyard fed by the waters of the Nile. Every evening, he secretly wanders off into the desert to erect a mysterious construction made of mud. Despite a disturbing wound in his lower back that seems to be eating away at his skin, he continues his labor day after day. While the Sudanese people rise to claim their freedom, his mud creation starts slowly to take a life of its own.

A major shift of political power in Sudan started with street protests throughout Sudan on 16 December 2018 That resulted in the overthrow of the dictator Omar Al-Basheer. The Sudanese Revolution took over 38 weeks to achieve its demands with over 300 casualties and +1200 arrests. Fire in the Nile is a documentary about how the people dealt with the government and how to protest until their demands have been granted.

Award winning short documentary by Ibrahim Snoopy, tracks the journey of the MTC martial arts team, which decides after a civil revolution that occurred in Sudan (2018-2019). Facing of lack of the state support and weak financial means, ambitious athletes found themselves forced to travel by land from Sudan to Kenya through Ethiopia to participate in an international championship "LionHeart 2019 Nairobi Open" in Nairobi, Kenya. A journey filled with determination, resilience, hope, and full of difficulties and challenges in order to raise the name of Sudan high in international sports forums and to solidify the art of Jiu-Jitsu in Africa.

Filmmakers Ibrahim, Suliman, Eltayeb and Manar, close friends for many years, left their motherland in the sixties and seventies to study film abroad and founded the Sudanese Film Group in 1989. After years of distance and exile, they are reunited, hoping to finally make their old dream come true: to bring back cinema to Sudan by reopening the Halfaia Cinema, a dilapidated theater in Khartoum.

When Isra’a discovers she is expecting another baby amid the civil war in Yemen, she and her husband decide she should have an abortion. But this creates enormous difficulties – in their relationship and elsewhere. A moving story from an all-too-often forgotten crisis region.

Saddari is a story of A 3 Young bikers decide to hit the road to another state for adventure , Ending up embarking on a challenging bike trip across all of Sudan with less than a 100$ In their pockets combined and worn-out bicycles, Facing numerous challenges along the way.

The film denounces the popular practice of witchcraft. Some impostors are able to deceive the villagers into believing that their Sheikh had murdered one of his disciples after discovering he had an affair with his wife. The Sheikh is driven from the village.

A short film presenting a snippet of Sudanese culture and traditions

The short film Jamal (1981) by Ibrahim Shaddad is a report from the life of a camel, most of which plays out in a dreary, small room – a sesame mill.

Two Sudanese young men travel to Egypt in pursuit of proper education. While one of them finds the love of his life and pursues a career in signing, the other is doomed to lead a life of failure as life-pleasures blind his eyes to the essence of existence.

The history of systematic oppression of women in Sudan dates back to the 16th century. Heroic Bodies presents many examples of the ways in which the female body was regarded and treated as property, from women forced to live as concubines or slaves, to genital mutilation and facial disfigurement. Women’s rights advocates—most of them women, but also a few men—tell stories of horrific traditions and oppression, as well as brave resistance and change.

Ibrahim goes back to the village he once left, hoping to screen films. But as he wrestles with custom and bureaucracy, war ignites across Sudan, turning his search for a screen into a battle to stay alive.

This Jungo Life offers an intimate and raw look into the hidden lives of young refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan and South Sudan, living on the streets of Morocco. Forced to flee violence and chaos, they remain stranded, unable to return home due to the ongoing wars ravaging their countries. Filmed entirely on mobile phones, the documentary provides unprecedented access to their world, capturing the reality of their daily struggles. The resilience of the human spirit and the fierce drive for survival is underscored, as they fight to build a better future for themselves and the families they’ve left behind.

Partitions draws on photographs, state documents, audio recordings and footage of domestic spaces and routines, to tell a story of Sindhi migration following the Partition of India in 1947. Inspired by the life of a woman who was born in Hyderabad, Sindh, grew up in Madras (Chennai) and lived the rest of her life as a Singaporean, the film juxtaposes fragmented recollections of the past with enduring practices of the present.

After coming to Norway as a refugee, Ahmed Umar has become a renowned artist. Proud of his roots, his art mixes Sudanese and western influences. In 2015, he came out as gay on Facebook, making him the first openly gay man from Sudan, this causes a massive outrage in the Sudanese community.

Forced to leave Sudan for East Africa following the outbreak of war, five citizens of Khartoum — a civil servant, a tea lady, a resistance committee volunteer, and two young bottle collectors — reenact their stories of survival and freedom through dreams, revolution, and civil war.

While making his graduation film in Cairo, Omar Ibrahim learns that his home country, Sudan, is being shaken by revolution. In the film’s fictional story, a family is unable to bury their deceased child – a theme that strangely echoes the sense of powerlessness experienced by the filmmaker who, in Nothing Happens After the Revolution, reflects on exile.

Derweesh suddenly finds himself culturally conflicted when his only daughter turns 18. The thought of his daughter having a boyfriend brings up aspects of his Sudanese culture that until now he thought he had left behind.

Quirino, 77, has lived for more than 30 years in an abandoned village, at the bottom of a deep valley, between the sea and the mountains. Feeling the effects of old age, Quirino faces the dilemma of having to leave the only place he has ever known or end his days there.

Two blind men make their way through the desert accompanied by a donkey. Connected by a rope, sometimes the two men decide the way, and sometimes the donkey leads them through the desert.

The Dislocation of Amber was filmed in the city of Suakin, a formerly flourishing port in Sudan, now in ruins. Its history is one of famine and opulence, devastation and progress, cultural damage and rich trade. Shariffe used the poetry of the great Sufi masters Ibn al-Farid, and Sheikh Abd al-Rahim al-Burai (Burai of Sudan) to accentuate a sense of desertion and alienation hinted at in the title. This surreal masterpiece of Sudanese cinema features poems sung by the late Sudanese singer Abdel-Aziz Dawoud.

Sudanese youths, under siege from their own government, mobilise virtually and embark on the non-violent protests that eventually oust the sitting president.

Amidst Sudan’s popular revolution in December 2018, a group of six women found themselves ensnared within the confines of oppression.Through their journey, a powerful narrative unfolds, revealing the transformative power of determination and the enduring hope that resides within the human spirit.

In a surreal journey through a forest, an artist disconnected from his Sudanese roots grapples with the horrors of war and his fragmented identity, conveying a message of unity and despair to his scattered people. Set against the backdrop of a forest, an artist clad in traditional "Aragy" attire navigates the chaos of his inner world and the war-torn reality of Sudan. As a member of the Sudanese diaspora, he mentally escapes the brutal truths of his homeland's conflict. Through a series of visually striking and symbolic scenes, he expresses his inner turmoil and the profound impacts of war on all Sudanese people, regardless of their ethnicities and affiliations.

Hussain Shariff's first film, a documentary centred on a traditional fertility rite of the Ingessana people in the southern Blue Nile State, celebrating ashes, the sun and good harvests.

The film captures the struggles of Sudanese revolutionaries after the October 2021 coup – a turning point that halted the revolution's progress and led to the current devastating war. Filmed over three years (2021-2023), including just weeks before the war began, it portrays life in Sudan during that turbulent time, blending scenes of peaceful daily life, protests, and resistance, especially during Ramadan and Bayram. Created by Sudanese activists and artists, the film sheds light on the overlooked causes of the war, challenging the narrative of a »civil war« and exposing deeper capitalist and colonial forces.

Wiped out by Dutch settlers less than a century after their arrival on Mauritius to establish a penal colony, the Dodo continues to live on as a disembodied signifier of its genocidal extermination. Dead As A Dodo lays bare the settler colonial mythology at the heart of the popular narrative of the Dodo’s extinction, drawing on archival material and in conversation with a book of poems titled A Theory of Birds by the Palestinian-American poet Zaina Alsous. Lines from this collection and a zoological study of the Dodo (1848) have been collaged into a cento to narrate the fictions (of race, name, and value) that enshrine settler colonial imaginaria over and above living in “co-dignity” with the land.

As instability closes in, a mother clings to a fragile phone call from her son, whose distant voice becomes her only connection to hope and an uncertain future.

Not the Waters of the Moon is an educational documentary developed for UNICEF. The film is to encourage vaccination of children in rural areas. The title of the film was carefully selected by the Director, to explain simply to the villagers that it is not a difficult task to perform vaccination.

99 Names is an immersive, audio-visual story that combines sonic rituals of oral storytelling, recitation of the Quran, and calling on the 99 names of Allah to venerate the Divine. The film asks audiences to sit with the grief of colonization within the Afro-Arab diaspora and invites them to imagine how we can collectively hold, transmute and release this weight.

After years of isolation following a series of betrayals, a man finds his quiet life disrupted by the 'processions' of his past. When an old, unfinished love resurfaces, a fleeting misunderstanding threatens to destroy his fragile peace, forcing him to choose between the safety of his solitude and the hardest test of the heart.

Suzi (Suzannah Mirghani) is the voice of her generation—the virtual voice, that is.

A spirited young village boy must learn the painful truth behind his grandfather's fortune, and another farmer's inevitable demise.

A 16mm feature film from Sudan.

In December 2018, the Sudanese people took to the streets in wide protests and demonstrations against the oppressive al-Bashir regime. On April 6th 2019, the protestors staged a sit-in in front of the Sudanese army headquarters in Khartoum that was met with excessive force by militarized troops. On April 11 of 2019, just days later, al-Bashir was forced by army commanders to step down as President. It is estimated that over 100 people were killed since the beginning of the protests, as well as hundreds injured and arrested. This documentary explores the modality and procedures through which the revolutionists created different forms of action in order to create change. Despite the government's many attempts at violently thwarting their efforts, through solidarity and cooperation nothing could stop the Sudanese people from altering the course of their country's history.

The story of 4 Sudanese from different walks of life who, through various circumstances and for different reasons, are drawn towards violent radicalization. Their stories intercut throughout the film but the characters never meet. Based on real events, the film puts a human face to the scourge of violent extremism. It’s modest ambition is to raise awareness on how violent extremism grows from intimate personal stories, and to explore how, depending on these personal paths, one can go either way

In December 2018, the Sudanese people took to the streets in wide protests and demonstrations against the oppressive al-Bashir regime. On April 6th 2019, the protestors staged a sit-in in front of the Sudanese army headquarters in Khartoum that was met with excessive force by militarized troops. On April 11 of 2019, just days later, al-Bashir was forced by army commanders to step down as President. It is estimated that over 100 people were killed since the beginning of the protests, as well as hundreds injured and arrested. This documentary explores the modality and procedures through which the revolutionists created different forms of action in order to create change. Despite the goverment's many attempts at violently thrawting their efforts, through solidarity and cooperation nothing could stop the Sudanese people from altering the coarse of their country's history.

Colin, born in Bermuda, is feral. Hell deep in a life of drugs, jail, and sexual perversion, Colin falls in love with Hedi, who is hell deep in spiritual perfectionism, legalism and anorexia. They meet at an inner healing school in England. Eventually they marry, and travel throughout East Africa teaching grief and trauma recovery. One year later they are ambushed by child soldiers from the LRA. Colin is killed, and Hedi eventually returns with their two year old daughter to express forgiveness to the children who were abducted by the LRA

Years of war and ethnic conflict in the Sudan have created a generation of young men, known as the "Lost Boys," who have spent more years in refugee camps than in their home communities. This intimate film recounts the story of Benjamin and William Deng, brothers joined in the struggle of a seemingly never-ending exile, who are then separated when one is accepted into a United States resettlement program while the other remains in a Kenyan refugee camp. It is not only a film about the two brother's dreams and reality, it is also a film about war and suffering in their beloved South Sudan, lost childhood and innocence, the trials of life as a refugee in foreign lands and the existing realities of survival. Real life in the so called "Land of dreams" – America, is not an easy adjustment.

Movie by Ali al ghazouli

The weekly wrestling tournaments of the Sudanese Nuba migrants in Khartoum usually take place between Northern and Southern Nuba men. The sport helps them strengthen their ethnic identity in a hostile urban environment. Nuba wrestling has developed into a unique mixture of traditional culture and modern sport. The film also illustrates the lives of some of the wrestlers who live in the shanty town.

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.

This artist profile of Kamala Ibrahim Ishag was commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries to accompany an exhibition titled "Kamala Ibrahim Ishag: States of Oneness," on display at the Serpentine South Gallery on October 7, 2022-January 29, 2023 to celebrate the pioneering Sudanese artist Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, whose work intertwines the earthly and the spiritual through an understanding of our connections with the natural world. With a career spanning over sixty years, Kamala Ibrahim Ishag (b.1939) is a defining figure of modern and contemporary art. Her widely recognised paintings, where often human and plant forms intertwine, use a distinctive palette rooted in the colours of the sun, sand and sky and contemplate the cyclical flow of life and the intangible aspects of women’s lives in Sudan.

A Sudanese photographer, captivated by the stars and the beauty of his country, turns his lens toward a darker truth: exposing his government's role in the Darfur genocide. But his courage comes at a cost.

Fear and anxiety dominate the mind of a young man in isolation, talking to himself, and trying to get out of that isolation.

An exploration of the plight of Sudanese refugees deciding between settling into their current spaces or waiting to be relocated yet again. After escaping the war in Sudan, Abdullah finds himself compelled to work in a nursing home in Cairo where he has to confront his past and make life-altering decisions.

Seaside fireworks, a march to the US-Iran game, and Souk Waqif festivities all make up a series of vignettes from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Meanwhile, an attendee ponders the event's significance amid a shifting of the world's centers of power.

Khartoum: Spring 2019. Mass demonstrations have been underway for a month now, protesting against the military government. Following the welcome end to the brutal rule of Omar al-Bashir, the new regime still hasn’t handed over power to a civilian government.

Interviews, archival footage, and the experience of one mixed race family bring into relief the struggles in Sudan, from its establishment in 1956 to its partition in 2011.

Closed cinemas. Primarily visually approached. Not spectacularly, but quietly and carefully. The symbolism of closed, derelict cinemas is strong. Their demise wasn't for economic, but for political and religious reasons. A woman tells the story of her cinema.

A displaced child gets involved in crime with an older thief. Will this be his last burglary?

Dr. Atif Abdelmageed travels to Abyei, a disputed border region between South Sudan and Sudan, where he speaks with local residents about their lives, struggles, and hopes for the future.

Hikmat Shafiq, a Sudanese Copt in his fifties, lives with his wife, Ester, in Atbara, considered the largest gathering of Sudanese Copts. The couple faces financial problems following the application of the Sharia law (Islamic law) in 1970, and the impact of such implementation reaches its climax in 1989 after the Islamists' coup d'état. Torn between Ester's desire to stay and her husband's desire to emigrate, the film depicts the brutal reality for Copts in one of the darkest eras in Sudan's history.

Told through somatic performance, oral prose, and solfeggio frequencies, Practical Portals is an experimental, moving-image series documenting a journey of embodied healing. Guided by the natural elements, each of the five vignettes welcomes viewers into an interior portal to reimagine belonging, memory and ancestry. This work asks: What do I need to remember?

The events and characters of the film are inspired by the reality of the armed conflicts in Darfur, a pivotal Arab issue located at the heart of Western political and media attention. The film seeks to present an objective artistic message to Western and Arab viewers.