Courtisane festival: Rigid Time (I)
Suddenly TV © Roopa Gogineni
As part of Courtisane festival, we dedicate two programs to the work of the Sudanese Film Group, in dialogue with contemporary filmmakers and artists.
The core of Rigid Time is built upon the fertile period of Sudanese cinema spanning from mid seventies to late eighties, with works by Hussein Shariffe, Eltayeb Mahdi and Ibrahim Shaddad. This period culminated in founding the Sudan Film Group (SFG) in April, 1989. SFG would prove to be short lived as only two months after its foundation, a military coup led by Omar al-Bashir in June, 1989, ushered in a fundamentalist Islamist regime that stifled Sudanese culture, symbolised by the closure of its cinemas, and ignited decades of civil war, genocide, and systemic repression.
The tremors of that era continue to destabilise the nation today. The current conflict, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is the violent culmination of those longstanding tensions, once again leaving the Sudanese people trapped in the devastating wake of a crisis decades in the making.
The title Rigid Time draws inspiration from the metaphysical studies of the Arab scholar Ibn Arabi, exploring the paradoxical concept of time as a fluid dimension and space as time frozen in place. The films of Shariffe, Mahdi and Shaddad are put in dialogue with contemporary filmmakers and artists, showcasing a cinematic language forged in the face of political disillusionment, one that finds movement even when history seeks to stand still.
→ Curated by Rund Alarabi & Vincent Stroep
→ In the presence of Rund Alarabi & Roopa Gogineni
→ Part of Courtisane festival (1−5 April), in collaboration with Kunsthal Gent in the context of the Friday Evenings
Rund Alarabi
Mahjoub Sharif
Mahjoub Sharif is a visualisation of I Say it Without Fear, a poem by Sudanese poet Mahjoub Sharif. In the video we see Sharif with his daughter sometime in 2006, as he recites his poem to her after rumours of his death circulate. Sharif is a monumental figure in Sudan’s literary legacy, and one of the most influential poets in Sudanese history.
Mahjoub Sharif © Rund Alarabi
Eltayeb Mahdi
The Tomb
The Tomb is a black and white 16mm short film by Eltayeb Mahdi, founding member of the Sudanese Film Group. The film follows a man who presents himself as a saint and deceives a crowd of followers for personal gain. This early work showcases Mahdi’s interest in exposing social manipulation and false prophets in Sudanese society.
Al Dhareeh (The Tomb) © Eltayeb Mahdi
Eltayeb Mahdi
The Station
In The Station, Mahdi captures encounters at a large crossroads in the desert between Khartoum and Port Sudan. In this observational work, Mahdi creates a striking contrast between foreign interests and the economic struggles of the Sudanese people. At this dusty intersection, people cross the desert on foot while trucks carrying resources roar past. The film presents a stream of consciousness in images, showing how the welfare of Sudanese people is overlooked in favour of economic advancement.
Al Mahatta (The Station) © Eltayeb Mahdi
Issraa El-Kogali Häggström
Diary of a Protest
An intimate insider report on the demonstrations in Khartoum during the height of the Arab Spring, calling for the removal of their totalitarian president Omar al-Bashir.
Diary of a Protest © Issraa El-Kogali Häggström
Roopa Gogineni
Suddenly TV
Khartoum: Spring 2019. Mass demonstrations have been underway for a month now, protesting against the military government. Following the welcome end to the brutal rule of Omar al-Bashir, the new regime still hasn’t handed over power to a civilian government. Among the protesters, gathered here from all over the country, is a small group of young revolutionaries who have set up the imaginary television station Suddenly TV. Using a cardboard box as a camera and a plastic bottle as a microphone, they report from the scene and ask people about how they view the new Sudan.
Suddenly TV © Roopa Gogineni
Bisha TV
Episode 5: Bisha’s Tax Season
Bisha TV is a satirical web series created by Ganja and his friends in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan using puppets of dictator Omar al-Bashir. Made under extremely difficult conditions in a conflict zone, the show follows the president’s schemes to raise money for a campaign of violent suppression across Sudan. Despite the dangerous circumstances, over one million people watched Bisha TV, most of them inside Sudan, making it a powerful form of resistance through humour and satire. The name ‘Bisha’ comes from the nickname for Omar al-Bashir.
Episode 5: Bisha’s Tax Season © Bisha TV
Al Mahatta (The Station) © Eltayeb Mahdi