19 min. Arabic.
During the late seventies and early eighties, a group of filmmakers who were then the staff of the Cinema Section at the Department of Culture issued a periodical named CINEMA. This same group then founded the Sudanese Film Group (SFG) in April 1989 to give them more independence from the state. The purpose of the group was to be fully engaged in all aspects of film production, screening, and teaching, as well as maintaining the passion of the Sudanese for the cinema. But on 30 June 1989 the coup d’état, which brought with it a suspicion of all forms of art, terminated any cultural aspirations and banned all civic society organizations. Finally in 2005 the heavy hand of the state was loosened somewhat, and the SFG was able to re-register.
Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art digitally restored seven works by these Sudanese filmmakers in 2018. Suliman Elnour’s graduation film Wa lakin alardh tadur (1978) depicts everyday life at the time in a school in Yemen.
Suliman Elnour, born in 1947, is a Sudanese filmmaker and writer. He studied Folklore, African and Asian Studies at the University of Khartoum and film at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), Moscow. He is a founding member of the Sudanese Film Group and a member of the editorial board of the magazine Cinema.
Production company All Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), Moscow (Moscow, USSR). Written and directed by Suliman Elnour. Cinematography Salah Sharif. Montage M. Shakhovskaya. Sound design O. Polisonov, Ali Qassim Al-Khaledi. Digital restoration Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst.
Films
1978: Wa lakin alardh tadur / It Still Rotates. 1996: The Last Haven (21 min.). 1997: Africa, Jungle, Drums and Revolution. 2001: The Forgotten Village of Magano (14 min.).
Photo: © Suliman Elnour
