For the next Doc Club online we are inviting you to watch this incredible documentary and then join us on Facebook for a live discussion.
Ibrahim, Manar, Suleiman and Altayeb are the members of the Sudanese Film Club founded in 1989. Unable to make films for years, they have decided to revive an old cinema. They are united not only by their love of cinema and their passionate desire to restore old films and draw attention to Sudanese film history once more but also by the fact that they all enjoyed a film education outside Sudan.
Their plans to renovate the outdoor cinema come up against bureaucracy, lack of cash and a general fear of upsetting “he who cannot be named.” (The film was made before the recent overthrow of Omar al-Bashir). In the meantime, they sit together and talk about the past and the history of Sudanese cinema, including their experiences of persecution and even torture as oppositional artists. They recall their times of exile and dream of a Sudan in which art and intellectual thought can be free. ‘We are smarter than them, but not as strong,’ is the conclusion.
Watch the trailer here
Review: "This poignant and witty documentary focuses on four directors whose careers were stalled by a military coup thirty years ago." - Cath Clarke, Guardian
Available to rent on BFI player. Click here for more info
Join us for a Facebook live Q&A on the Creative Folkestone Quarterhouse page with Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Terry Smith. The Q&A will start at 9pm so we recommend you should start watching the film at 7pm
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh is the chief film critic of the Metro newspaper and a director of the Deal Film Festival. Larushka will host the Q&A.
Terry Smith is a British-born artist living in Folkestone, England. In 2008, Smith was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award. He is known for his cut outs into the plaster of walls, mainly in derelict buildings and spaces. He is the founder of the Strangelove Festival, a nomadic project and unique festival bridging the gap between time-based genres. From art videos, experimental film and conventional cinema, to sound and performance works. The 2019 edition was launched at the Photographers Gallery and then travelled to Turner Contemporary (Margate), Fabrica (Brighton), and landed in Folkestone for five days in March.