Khartoum

In 2022, Sudanese filmmakers Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, and Timeea Ahmed joined forces with British director Phil Cox to chronicle the lives of five residents of Khartoum: Majdi, a civil servant; Khadmallah, a tea lady; Jawad, a resistance committee volunteer; and Lokain and Wilson, two young bottle collectors. When war breaks out due to a military coup, more than 10 million people are displaced—including the filmmakers and their protagonists—and the film team is forced to adapt their project to their new reality. Khartoum, the resulting documentary, follows the group as they leave Sudan for East Africa, and collectively re-enact their personal stories of survival and freedom. The film’s fusion of dreams, recollections, revolutions, and civil war is unflinching in its frank depictions of violence but also warmly optimistic. With imaginative and delicately calibrated use of multimedia, this extraordinary film is at once a devastating indictment on the violence of war and displacement, and a deeply moving tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and the redemptive power of creativity.