Hanoi, in the Japan­ese indus­tri­al zone: two young women who have left their vil­lage strug­gle to escape tem­po­rary work and short-term con­tracts. Becom­ing a real worker is a dream, which … read more

A broth­er and sister, aged eleven and eight respec­tive­ly, are sur­vivors of a deadly cyclone on the island of Min­danao in Decem­ber 2011. With extreme mod­esty, Kiri films their child­hood … read more

At a bend in the Rue de Charonne, I come across the letter car­ri­er start­ing his second daily round on foot. He wants me to accom­pa­ny him. It’s very, very … read more

In 2022, a col­lec­tive from the Sudan Film Fac­to­ry began a project to por­tray some people in Sudan’s cap­i­tal, ini­ti­at­ed by British film­mak­er Phil Cox (Native Voice Films). In the spirit of opti­mism after the dic­ta­tor was deposed, every­day scenes were filmed with two street boys, a tea seller, an activist and an employ­ee. When war broke out, they all left the country.

The film crew then devel­oped an unusu­al way to con­tin­ue the film project. In a studio, Lokain and Wilson, Khad­mal­lah, Jawad and Majdi recount their expe­ri­ences of flight in front of a green screen and describe their cur­rent sit­u­a­tion in dialog with the film team.

The col­lec­tive process in the studio becomes vis­i­ble - includ­ing empa­thet­ic reac­tions as they remem­ber trau­mat­ic events. The re-enact­ments get under­laid with doc­u­men­tary and archival footage or dream-like ani­mat­ed images cre­at­ing orig­i­nal visual effects. The film avoids feel­ings of vic­tim­iza­tion and empha­sizes on the long­ing for a peace­ful Sudan.

KHARTOUM impress­es with its par­tic­i­pa­to­ry approach, which con­tin­ues even after com­ple­tion, as Rawia Alhag con­tin­ues to look after the two street chil­dren. Anas Saeed began work­ing as a video jour­nal­ist for inde­pen­dent media organ­i­sa­tions and focus­es on human rights issues affect­ing mar­gin­alised com­mu­ni­ties in Sudan.

Rawia Alhag comes from a back­ground in the­atre. Her work focus­es on women’s and children’s issues of Sudanese people both within their com­mu­ni­ties and in the dias­po­ra. OUT OF COVERAGE (2024, short film).

Ibrahim Snoopy born in Beirut in 1992, is a film­mak­er and founder of the pro­duc­tion com­pa­ny In Deep Vision, Khar­toum. He has made sev­er­al award-win­ning short films and also direct­ed music videos and com­mer­cials. Since 2019 he is sup­port­ing film­mak­ers through multi-dis­ci­pline work­shops, con­sul­ta­tion and men­tor­ship. JOURNEY TO KENYA (2021), SEROTONIN (2022).

Timeea M Ahmed is a direc­tor, editor and pro­duc­er and his work focus­es chiefly on the cul­ture and strug­gles of Sudan. Short films: SADDARI (2023), IS IT WAR? (2024).

Phil Cox is the co-direc­tor of award-win­ning indie film col­lec­tive Native Voice Films since 1998 and has direct­ed and shot over 30 films for TV and cinema. His recent cin­e­mat­ic fea­tures as director/writer are THE BENGALI DETECTIVE (2011), LOVE HOTEL (2014), BETTY THEY SAY I’M DIFFERENT (2018), THE CLEANER (2020), THE SPIDER-MAN OF SUDAN (2022). He received inter­na­tion­al awards for his work in Sudan since 2004. Phil also teach­es and lec­tures around the world.

Ini­tial­ly, Gul­noza thought she knew her­self well enough and was open enough to start a film project about the rela­tion­ship between her and Denis, her boyfriend. She didn’t want to … read more

Zamira is fes­tive­ly attired, singing in a choir. A line from a love song poses the ques­tion “What is my pur­pose in life here on earth?”, becom­ing the guid­ing theme … read more

The night is still black. In the narrow beam of her torch, Quralai counts the money for the sweet corn she is about to buy from the pick­ers. At home, … read more

Can pass­ing through a forest change the fate of a 16-year-old girl overnight? The lives of Runa and her family are now divid­ed into before and after cross­ing this forest. … read more

Koka is a pretty grown-up kid who lives with his father and two dogs in a coastal vil­lage on the Bering Sea. Under his father’s edgy instruc­tions, he helps with … read more

The film unfolds as a poignant explo­ration of the film­mak­er’s jour­ney toward under­stand­ing and accept­ing the pro­found sense of belong­ing tied to space and time. It chron­i­cles the moth­er’s expe­ri­ence … read more