Sudan, Arabic - 75 min
Feature Documentary Film
TOTAL BUDGET
€159,000
CONFIRMED FINANCING
€89,000
Primary Contact
marwazeinfilm@gmail.com
+249 0915503234
In a country that is going through many political, economical and social crises, can young women survive? What if they are playing football?
Off Khartoum Sides is an observational film that goes through the visual exploration of a country through the outsider lens.
It mixes the narrative that tells the story of the challenges of the women’s national football team of Sudan with a cinematic narrative that tells the story of an outsider who is stealing emotions, notions, reactions, sounds and images to evoke deep understanding about this multilayered country.
Sudan has been marred in civil war and conflict over the past four decades. Its current conservative Islamic government has imposed many restrictions especially on women. However, women in my country - Sudan - have been trying to find spaces of expression and have consistently tried to expand their margin of rights and freedom.
I try, through my film, to give a true image about young women in Sudan today. It is more relevant than ever, given the changing social, economic and political situation in a country that has successfully remained hidden from the gaze of the entire world.
Our protagonists all dare to be different and so they actively engage with the burden of being regarded as coming from an “inferior” tribe, a lower class – outcasts of Khartoum’s Northern society. The girls have to confront the rampant corruption to survive, and through their daily routine and their battle to continue playing football, they expose many faces of Sudan.
Sara, Henda and Gaddal believe that through their talent and success they can try to change their reality and impose themselves on the rigid social beliefs. Will they succeed?
Identity questions and the idea of "home" drove me, for years, to reflect about Sudan. I went to university in Cairo and it is this chapter of my life that brought me closer to my native Sudan and nourished the desire to dig deeper into my own country. Often, distance, whether temporal or geographical, helps one see things in their utmost raw state, and offers a brutal clarity and a tender nostalgia.
Indeed, the status of women in Sudan was the initial attraction to the story. But as I got to know my protagonists I suddenly realized that those three young women represent all the component parts of my country with its complexity, its conflicts but also its beauty and dynamism. Through their story – in which I rarely appear but I remain part of the narrative – I can grasp and transmit an authentic slice of life in Khartoum.
Every aspect of life in Sudan holds a woman back from doing what she wants; the dos and don’ts are designed to contain our freedom. For me, even holding the camera in the street was a struggle! I now realize how lucky I am to have been let into the intimacy of these girls and that they have allowed me to reveal their courage, which they often don't even see! And to be more attached to this film, it’s my own way of telling a story about our beloved, troubled Sudan.
Identity questions and the idea of "home" drove me, for years, to reflect about Sudan. I went to university in Cairo and it is this chapter of my life that brought me closer to my native Sudan and nourished the desire to dig deeper into my own country. Often, distance, whether temporal or geographical, helps one see things in their utmost raw state, and offers a brutal clarity and a tender nostalgia.
Indeed, the status of women in Sudan was the initial attraction to the story. But as I got to know my protagonists I suddenly realized that those three young women represent all the component parts of my country with its complexity, its conflicts but also its beauty and dynamism. Through their story – in which I rarely appear but I remain part of the narrative – I can grasp and transmit an authentic slice of life in Khartoum.
Every aspect of life in Sudan holds a woman back from doing what she wants; the dos and don’ts are designed to contain our freedom. For me, even holding the camera in the street was a struggle! I now realize how lucky I am to have been let into the intimacy of these girls and that they have allowed me to reveal their courage, which they often don't even see! And to be more attached to this film, it’s my own way of telling a story about our beloved, troubled Sudan.
Henrik Underbjerg
2017: Aleppo's Fall, Danmark, What a Circus!, Three Heists and a Hamster, Drengene mod Pigerne
2016: The Islands and the Whales
2015: Rosita
2014: 1989, Drone, The Cartel
2013: Sorrow and Joy, Sepideh, Min skolelærer, American Vagabond, All for Two
2012: Law of the Jungle, Mig og min tvilling, Stuck in the Middle, Mig uden dig, Jennis storesøster
2011: Requiem 2019, How Are You, All for One
Jihan El Tahri
2018: The Feeling of Being Watched
2016: Les pharaons de l'Egypte Moderne
2015: Nasser
2012: Sudanna al Habib
2010: Independent Lens
2008: Behind the Rainbow