Eltayeb Mahdi

Filmmakers Ibrahim, Suliman, Eltayeb and Manar, close friends for many years, left their motherland in the sixties and seventies to study film abroad and founded the Sudanese Film Group in 1989. After years of distance and exile, they are reunited, hoping to finally make their old dream come true: to bring back cinema to Sudan by reopening the Halfaia Cinema, a dilapidated theater in Khartoum.

Two blind men make their way through the desert accompanied by a donkey. Connected by a rope, sometimes the two men decide the way, and sometimes the donkey leads them through the desert.

Sudan, in the late 1980s. People cross the desert on foot or cover long distances by car and truck. In Al Mahatta, Eltayeb Mahdi shows encounters at one of the large crossroads between the capital Khartoum in the centre of the country and Bur Sudan on the Red Sea.

The short film Al Dhareeh (1977) by Eltayeb Mahdi, founding member of the Sudanese Film Group, tells the story of a man who claims to be able to heal people.

In December 2018, the Sudanese people took to the streets in wide protests and demonstrations against the oppressive al-Bashir regime. On April 6th 2019, the protestors staged a sit-in in front of the Sudanese army headquarters in Khartoum that was met with excessive force by militarized troops. On April 11 of 2019, just days later, al-Bashir was forced by army commanders to step down as President. It is estimated that over 100 people were killed since the beginning of the protests, as well as hundreds injured and arrested. This documentary explores the modality and procedures through which the revolutionists created different forms of action in order to create change. Despite the goverment's many attempts at violently thrawting their efforts, through solidarity and cooperation nothing could stop the Sudanese people from altering the coarse of their country's history.

Eltayeb Mahdis film ARBA'A MARAT LIL ATFAL depicts the everyday life at that time in facilities and schools for children with physical or mental disabilities. Children in class are being shown where amongst other things art, woodwork and speaking are being taught but also the hustle and bustle in the schoolyard as well as physiotherapy and the handling of walking aids are being described.

In December 2018, the Sudanese people took to the streets in wide protests and demonstrations against the oppressive al-Bashir regime. On April 6th 2019, the protestors staged a sit-in in front of the Sudanese army headquarters in Khartoum that was met with excessive force by militarized troops. On April 11 of 2019, just days later, al-Bashir was forced by army commanders to step down as President. It is estimated that over 100 people were killed since the beginning of the protests, as well as hundreds injured and arrested. This documentary explores the modality and procedures through which the revolutionists created different forms of action in order to create change. Despite the government's many attempts at violently thwarting their efforts, through solidarity and cooperation nothing could stop the Sudanese people from altering the course of their country's history.