During the late ’70s and early ’80s, a group of filmmakers at the Sudanese Department of Culture issued a periodical named Cinema. In April 1989, they founded the Sudanese Film Group to gain more independence from the state and to fully engage in all aspects of film production, screening, and teaching, as well as maintaining the passion of the Sudanese for the cinema. However, the June 30, 1989 coup d’état, which brought with it a suspicion of all forms of art, terminated any cultural aspirations and banned all civic society organizations. Finally in 2005, the heavy hand of the state was loosened somewhat, and the SFG was able to re-register. Arsenal—Institute for Film and Video Art digitally restored selected works by these Sudanese filmmakers in 2018 in Germany.
Al Dhareeh / The Tomb
Directed by Eltayeb Mahdi | 17 mins | 1977
Al Dhareeh tells the story of a man who claims to be able to heal people.
Al Mahatta / The Station
Directed by Eltayeb Mahdi | 16 mins | 1989
Sudan, in the late 1980s. People cross the desert on foot or cover long distances by car and truck. Al Mahatta shows encounters at one of the large crossroads between the capital Khartoum in the center of the country and Bur Sudan on the Red Sea.
Eltayeb Mahdi was born in Omdurman, Sudan, in 1951 and studied at the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo. He is a founding member of the Sudanese Film Group and a member of the editorial board of the magazine Cinema.
Wa Lakin Alardh Tadur / It Still Rotates
Directed by Suliman Elnour | 19 mins | 1978
Suliman Elnour’s graduation film Wa Lakin Alardh Tadur depicts a typical school scene during the time the film was made.
Suliman Elnour was born in 1947 and is a Sudanese filmmaker and writer. He studied folklore, and African and Asian studies at the University of Khartoum and film at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, Moscow. He is a founding member of the Sudanese Film Group and a member of the editorial board of the magazine Cinema.
Jamal / A Camel
Directed by Ibrahim Shaddad | 14 mins | 1981
Jamal is a report from the life of a camel, most of which plays out in a dreary, small room—a sesame mill.
Ibrahim Shaddad was born in Halfa, Sudan, in 1945 and studied at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. He has written and directed many films and plays. Practically all films and plays in Sudan were discontinued by producers or banned by governments. He is a founding member of the Sudanese Film Group and a member of the editorial board of the magazine Cinema.
Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
Mizna and MSP Film Society present the 14th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, screening more than thirty contemporary films from Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as those from local Arab filmmakers.
Browse Twin Cities Arab Film Festival