Four older Sudanese filmmakers with passion for film battle to bring cinema-going back to Sudan, not without resistance. Their'Sudanese Film Club' have decided to revive an old cinema, and again draw attention to Sudanese film history.
Ibrahim, Manar, Soliman and Eltayeb, four Sudanese filmmakers and close friends since more than 45 years, try to inspire the love of cinema in a wounded country. One of their last heroic acts is to resuscitate a cinema theatre in Khartoum.
"What do you want to do? Go back to Europe or sit on our bench with us?" That is the dilemma I was presented by my Sudanese elders. The elders in question are the filmmakers who founded the Sudanese Film Group in 1968. They are now aged between 60 and 80 and journey throughout the country with a travelling cinema. They pass their knowledge on to young people and inspire the love of cinema in a ravaged land, despite only having a canvas screen that cannot withstand the desert storms. Even buying an inflatable screen becomes an epic undertaking, a new adventure to achieve one last glorious feat, their "heroic act" according to Ibrahim: to resuscitate a cinema in Khartoum, in a country where consumer society has completely outshone any cultural life.
A film by Suhaib Gasmelbari
Sudan / Chad / France / Germany / Qatar, 2019, Documentary, 90 min. DCP · Colour, in Arabic / English /Russian
Stars: Suleiman Ibrahim, Ibrahim Shaddad, Manar Al-Hilo, Eltayeb Mahdi and Hana Abdelrahman Suliman (Sudanese Film Group, SFG)
First feature length documentary
"What kind of times are these, when To talk about trees is almost a crime Because it implies silence about so many horrors?" ― Bertolt Brecht
Director's note The story of The Waiting Bench [Talking About Trees] is that of four filmmakers: Ibrahim, Soliman, Manar and Altayeb, all members of the Sudanese Film Group. This is the tale of their 42-year struggle to make films and the tireless hope that unites them forever. I will tell the story of struggle, passion and a gang of crafty devils with a fine sense of humour. Through their daily lives, their ambition to reopen a cinema, the memory of their disappointed dreams, what matters most to them is cinema and independence to Sudanese people. Suhaib Gasmelbari
Genre: Art / Music / Culture Genre: Human Interest / Social Issues Genre: Politics / Society Country: France | Sudan | Chad | Germany | Qatar Language: Arabic Release Date: 18 December 2019 (France)
Producer: Marie Balducchi Executive Producer: Marie Balducchi Co-producers: Melanie Andernach, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Benjamin Delboy, Jeremy Delpon
Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari Writer: Suhaib Gasmelbari Camera: Suhaib Gasmelbari Editing: Nelly Quettier, Gladys Joujou Sound: ElSadig Kamal, Katharina Von Schroeder Sound Editing: Jean Mallet Re-recording mixer (Mix): Jean-Guy Véran Colorists: Herbert Posch, Marine Lepoutre Assistant Director: Hana Abdelrahman Suliman Production Manager: Marie-Frederique Lauriot-dit-Prevost
Participants: Ibrahim Shaddad, Manar Al-Hilo, Eltayeb Mahdi, Suliman Ibrahim Hana Abdelrahman Suliman (Sudanese Film Group, SFG)
Production Marie Balducchi (Agat Films & CieFrance)
Co-production Mahamat Saleh Haroun (GOÏ-GOÏ Productions, N'Djaména) Melanie Andernach (MADE IN GERMANY Filmproduktion, Köln) Vidéo de Poche (France) Doha Film Fund (Qatar)
In association with Mahadi Al Tayeb (Sudanese Film Group, Khartoum)
With the support of Aide aux cinémas du monde Centre National du cinéma et de l'image animée IDFA Bertha Fund Europe IDFA Bertha Fund La Région Ile-de-France World Cinema Fund (WCF, Berlin): 30.000 €, in Nov 2015 /// German WCF Partner: tbc Film und Medienstiftung NRW Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Doha Film Institute SANAD Development Grant Venice Production Bridge
World sales: Wide House (Anais Clanet / ac(@)widehouse.org / T: +33 683221806)
Contact Agat Films & Cie, Marie Balducchi
Selected for IDFA Bertha Fund 2016 (Project) IDFA Bertha Fund 2015 (Project) IDFA Forum 2015 (Project) IDFA Forum category: Round Table (Project) www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=8a7f1854-da5b-4cbb-8d90-04cb55b18639&tab=jvf
2019 | El Gouna International Film Festival 2019 * Nominee: Golden Star - Feature Documentary Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
2019 | Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival * Nominee: Golden Apricot - Feature Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
2019 | Hamptons International Film Festival * Nominee: Golden Starfish Award - Documentary Feature (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
2019 |Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey * Winner: FIPRESCI Prize - International Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari) "For the very elegant and bitter story of the last Don Quixotes of cinema." Winner: Special Prize of the Jury - International Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari) "Sometimes the failures are so great that hope has to grow. Times when'talking about trees is almost a crime because it implies silence about so many horrors!'" * Nominee: Golden Tulip - International Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
2019 | Millennium Docs Against Gravity * Nominee: Grand Prix Bank Millenium Award (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
2019 | Berlin International Film Festival * Winner: Glasshütte Original Documentary Award (Suhaib Gasmelbari) * Winner: Panorama Audience Award - Documentary Film (Suhaib Gasmelbari) www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2019/02_programm_2019/02_Filmdatenblatt_2019_201918539.html
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Suliman und drei weitere Mitglieder des Sudanesischen Filmclubs haben sich vorgenommen, ein altes Kino wiederzubeleben. Sie eint nicht nur ihre Liebe zum Kino und der leidenschaftliche Wunsch, alte Filmbestände zu restaurieren und der sudanesischen Filmgeschichte neue Aufmerksamkeit zu verschaffen, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass sie alle im Exil eine Filmausbildung genossen haben. Unermüdlich versuchen sie, die Kinobesitzer auf ihre Seite zu bekommen und das Kino bespielbar zu machen, kämpfen dabei aber immer wieder gegen Widerstände. Zwischendurch sitzen sie zusammen und reden über die Vergangenheit, über Verfolgung als oppositionelle Künstler und über Folter, lesen sich alte Briefe aus dem Exil vor und träumen von einem Sudan, in dem die Kunst und das Denken frei sein können. „Wir sind schlauer als sie, aber nicht so stark", fassen sie einhellig ihre Situation zusammen. In diesen lakonischen Momenten spürt man Freundschaft, Nähe und ideologische Verbundenheit im Kampf für gemeinsame Ideale. Suhaib Gasmelbari stellt die Geschichte des sudanesischen Kinos ins Zentrum seines Films und wirft dabei zugleich auch ein Licht auf die momentane Situation in dem von Krisen geschüttelten Land.
von Suhaib Gasmelbari
Frankreich / Sudan / Deutschland / Tschad / Katar 2019
Arabisch, Englisch, Russisch
Dokumentarische Form 93' · Farbe
Regie, Buch Suhaib Gasmelbari
Kamera Suhaib Gasmelbari
Montage Nelly Quettier, Gladys Joujou
Sound Design Jean Mallet, Jean-Guy Veran
Ton Elsadig Kamal, Katharina von Schroeder
Regieassistenz Hana Abdelrahman Suliman
Production Manager Marie-Frederique Lauriot-dit-Prevost
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