Image: Al Mahatta (The Station). Eltayeb Mahdi, 1989
Sudanese Film Screening
Saturday, May 4, 2024 5:30pm drinks, 6:30p screening
Brought to you by Monangambee, a nomadic panafrican microcinema in Lagos (see more below)
*Films*
1. Al Mahatta (The Station) 1989, Eltayeb Mahdi, 16’
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 center of the country and Bur Sudan on the Red Sea.
2. Al Dhareeh (The Tomb) 1977, Eltayeb Mahdi, 16’
A man claims to be able to heal people. An alleged tomb of a pious sheikh is the setting of the story. His followers arrive from near and far to get healed and in that process lose a lot of money. Even after the fraud has been exposed his followers are still convinced of his powers.
3. Wa Lakin Alardh Tadur (It Still Rotates) 1978, Suliman Elnour, 19’
Suliman Elnour's graduation film depicts everyday life at the time in a school in the fifth province in Yemen. There are no formalities, no boundaries between students and teachers, criticism and self-criticism are important means of communication and the support of girls' education is of high significance.
4. Jamal, (A Camel) 1981, Ibrahim Shaddad, 14’
A report from the life of a camel, most of which plays out in a dreary, small room – a sesame mill.
5. Insan (Human Being) 1994, Ibrahim Shaddad, 27’
The trials and tribulations of a Sudanese villager in a large alien city. Shot entirely without dialogue, the film’s innovative use of sound helps tell the story of a shepherd who leaves his wife and herd to settle in a nearby town.
Image: Jamal (A Camel). Ibrahim Shaddad, 1981
Screening in collaboration with Monangambee: a nomadic panafrican microcinema in Lagos. Our screenings engage Black continental and diasporic filmmakers, as well as Third Cinema, and cinematic movements stemming from the Global South in general. We try as much as possible to have the filmmakers present, in person or virtually, as the screenings are followed by discussions.
Our name was decided as an homage to late Sarah Maldoror’s debut film, Monangambee (1969), in conversation with her daughter, Annouchka de Andrade. Set in Angola but shot in Algeria, Monangambee speaks to the fundamental misrecognition(s) between colonized and colonizers in a Fanonian vein, while also centering the possibilities of revolutionary care work. Quite fittingly, the name of the film is taken from a war cry colonized Angolans employed to warn of the approach of Portuguese slave traders. Read more here and @monangambee