Sudanese Short Film Al-Sit Being Nominated For The Oscar
15 August, 2021
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) - After it has won several international prizes, the Sudanese short film Al-Sit is reportedly being nominated for the Oscar 2022.
The film, produced by Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani, has already won 13 international prizes ever since it was put on show in late last year.
One of the most outstanding prizes the film has won was at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival 2021 (France) Canal+ Award (the biggest short film festival in the World).
It has also won the Tampere Film Festival 2021 (Finland) Grand Prix, the prize that qualifies the film to be considered among the Oscar prizes 2022.
The film has also nabbed the awards of Best Director at the Beirut International Women Film Festival and Best Short Film and Chairman’s award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival.
These awards were in addition to the acclaim the film has received from the public and arbitration panels who praised the artistic quality of the film.
Ms. Suzannah Mirghani is a writer, researcher and independent filmmaker specializing in communication and museum studies.
She has written or edited a lot of academic books and articles.
She wrote the scenarios and directed a number of short films that, beside Al-Sit (2020), include Korofan (2016) and Hind’s Dream (2014).
The story of Al-sit film is about a fifteen year old girl (Nafeesa) living in a cotton - cultivating village in Sudan. Her heart was with a young man with the name Babikir. But her family arranged for her to marry another man, Nadir, a businessman working outside the country.
But her grandmother Al-Sit, a dominant figure in the village, had her own plan for Nafeesa’a future life.
Then, under these circumstances, can the girl Nafeesa choose a road for her future life?
The film presents an emotional story about women from Sudan, whether those sitting at the top or bottom of political power, shedding light on the social chains and the changes modern life has effected into those societies.
Suzannah and her sister Eiman have produced the film with generous support from the Doha, Qatar, film corporation, the team for supporting information production and the Sudan Film Factory.
Speaking to the electronic publication BajNews, Suzannah said Sudan is rich in talents “but there is a very little chance for these talents to show themselves.”
“We have made this film with a team composed mainly from Sudanese (99%), some of whom act for the first time, and Lebanese (1%)” she argued.
“We have conducted performance trials at the Sudanese Cinema Corporation to pick the basic elements, beside the seasoned actors Rabha Mahmoud, Alsir Mahjoub, Haram Bashir and Abdalla Jaknoon, all of whom are gigantic figures in the theatre,“ she said.
“I would not be exaggerating if I say there are distinct professionals the like of whom I have never seen before. For instance, we have Khalid Awad (the camera’s philosopher) who leads his team in high creativity. We also have the Maestro Al-Muez Mohammad Hajar Almadani and others.” she said.
Suzannah said success of the film is a success for the Sudanese cinema.
"These prizes are an indication we have great stories, big actors and professional direction teams. Spectators around the World are eager to see Sudan on the screen,” she said in conclusion.
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