KHARTOUM
Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M. Ahmed, Phil Cox
Sudan | 2025 | Original version with English subtitles | 80 min
SA 15 NOV
21:30 CITY KINO WEDDING
Equipped with donated iPhones, four Sudanese filmmakers—Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, and Timeea M. Ahmed—began in 2022, together with British writer-director Phil Cox, documenting the lives and dreams of five very different people in Khartoum, struggling to survive in the chaos of their home country: The street kid Lokain and his best friend Wilson embark on a mission in Khartoum’s garbage dumps to buy two nice shirts.
Khadmallah, a single mother and tea seller, sells cardamom coffee while studying mathematics to realize her dream of opening her own business.
Jawad, a Sufi Rastafarian and volunteer in the resistance, rides his motorcycle and protests against the military for a civilian government.
The bureaucrat Majdi escapes office life by organizing pigeon races with his son. Filming began shortly after the military overthrew the civilian government. In April 2023, a war broke out between the army and the RSF (Rapid Support Forces), forcing more than ten million people to flee—a conflict that continues to this day. When fighter jets bombed Khartoum and armed militias controlled the streets, production was halted. Both the filmmakers and the protagonists had to flee Sudan but continued their innovative cinematic work—using a mix of animation, green-screen reconstructions, and documentary dream sequences to continue telling their story.
KHARTOUM premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 and had its European premiere in February 2025 in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlinale.
IBRAHIM SNOOPY is a Sudanese filmmaker and cinematographer who works for ARTE, BBC, and The Washington Post. He also directs music videos, commercials, and short films. His notable works include the documentaries KHARTOUM OFFSIDE, awarded Best Documentary at the Carthage Film Festival, and FROM ARGENTINA TO SUDAN.
RAWIA ALHAG is a Sudanese filmmaker and screenwriter based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her work focuses on women and children, highlighting the experiences and struggles of Sudanese people both within their communities and in the diaspora. She directed the award-winning short film OUT OF COVERAGE, recognized as Best Foreign Film at the Juba Film Festival.
ANAS SAEED began his career as a video journalist with the independent media outlet Ayin Network. He has produced several reports for international media covering human rights issues in various Sudanese communities.
TIMEEA MOHAMED AHMED is a Sudanese director, editor, and producer based in East Africa. Her work spans non-narrative, experimental, and documentary film. She directed the short films SADDARI (2023) and IS IT WAR? (2024).
PHIL COX has been co-director of the award-winning indie film collective Native Voice Films since 1998 and has produced over 30 films for television and cinema. For his work in Sudan since 2004, he has received the British Grierson Award, the Rory Peck Award, and the Hinzpeter and Bayeux-Calvados Awards.
