Sudanese restored films at Al-Gouna Festival
Follow-up - moatinoon
The sixth edition of the Gouna Film Festival, October 13-20, 2023 features a collection of recently restored short and medium-length films (Sudanese Film Group). The most creative dreamy directors are Solomon Al-Nur, Al-Tayeb Mehdi and Ibrahim Shaddad.
The German Film and Video Arts Institute of Arsenal in Berlin revived these films to preserve these film treasures.
As a result of the constructive cooperation between the Gouna Film Festival and Sudanese cinema, the Director of the Festival of El-Tamimi says in a press report published by Al-Ahram Al-Evening Cairo: I welcomed the idea when Marianne Khoury (artistic director) made this proposal to me. The festival has always supported the vital communication with Sudanese cinema, and our journey with it was launched in 2018 with the film Offside Khartoum by Marwa Zain. The following year, the festival celebrated Amjad Abu Alas film You will Die in the Twentieth, which was successful by receiving the Star of Golden Gouna award in the feature film competition.
The same year saw the celebration of the film Talking About Trees by the Al Bari Department, winning the award (Star of Golden Gouna) for Best Film in the Long Documentary Competition, and receiving the Variety Award which the Festival holds each year, complementing the sweeping victory of Sudanese cinema in El Gouna. This year, we continue to take pride in this collaboration with Mohammed Kordofanis award-winning film Goodbye Julia in 2020, along with several high-profile honors, including participation in the Film Gouna Platform (2020). The sixth session hosts the first Middle East and North African screening of Kordofanis Goodbye Julia.
Khoury, artistic director of the festival told the same newspaper: By sheer coincidence, the creators of these films found themselves in Cairo during the preparation of the program, fleeing the wave of violence and unrest in Khartoum, which assured us of the need to provide a platform for Sudanese directors.
The Sudanese Film Group was founded in April 1989. The group includes directors who have worked to forge a new course for creative expression, film exploration and education.
The programme presents the following films:
Africa: Forest, Drum and Revolution, Suleiman Al-Nur, Soviet Union, 1979, 12 minutes. An exploratory journey to what Africa represents in the Soviet Union.
Al-Tayeb Mahdi, Egypt, 1977, 16 minutes. The story of a man with healing abilities.
Rope: Ibrahim Shaddad, Sudan, 1985, 31 minutes, exploring two males and a desert tank.
Station: Al Tayeb Mahdi, Sudan, 1989, 15 minutes, photography of a meeting group at a crossroads in Sudan.
Four times for children: Al Tayeb Mahdi, Sudan, 1979, 20 minutes, insight into the lives of children with disabilities.
Fishing party: Ibrahim Shaddad, German Democratic Republic, 1964, 40 minutes. A poignant comment on racism.
Camel: Ibrahim Shaddad, Sudan, 1981, 13 mins.
But the Earth spins: Solomon of Light, Soviet Union, 1978, 18 minutes, class of life in a Yemeni school.
The sixth edition also hosts the first Middle Eastern and North African screening of Goodbye Julia by Kordofani.
Al Gouna Film Festival is one of the leading festivals in the Middle East and aims to showcase a variety of films for a passionate and passionate cinema audience, create intercultural communication through the seventh art, and connect filmmakers from the Arab region with their international counterparts to foster a spirit of cooperation and encourage cultural exchange. In addition to this, the Festival is committed to discovering new film talents with the aim of developing cinema in the Arab world, especially through its industry arm, the Cinematographic Gouna Platform consisting of the film gouna platform and the Gouna Film Bridge, which provide opportunities for learning and participation.
