Sudanese Filmmaker Wins Toronto Award for Documentary
16/09/2014
Before he started the project Kuka wanted to shoot a powerful documentary about the trials of the women, men and children who had suffered hunger and escaped certain death during yet another war on the southern border of his country.
When he finished filming, he found that he had recorded a very different story about how the people of Southern Kordufan - despite the aerial bombing by the government in Khartoum - can sing and dance their way out of these desperate times.
A pleasantly surprised Kuka later said, Sudan eventually is going to become this great place, once we allow all these cultures to flourish and start celebrating them. And I really saw it in my film.
A plane that does not drone
The Sudanese filmmaker named his film Beats of the Antonov as a play on words inspired by the sound of the Russian-made cargo planes that the Sudanese government uses to bomb villages in the Nuba Mountains of Blue Nile. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced by a three-year war between rebels and the government.
Kukas 65-minute documentary premiered early this month at the International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. He hopes to show his film at other international festivals. The language of the people who appear in the film is Arabic, but Kuka is certain that their actions and their emotions articulate the narrative. He says they are the best promoters of Beats of the Antonov.
The 36-year-old filmmaker from Khartoum has earned film credits for several other short films about Sudan and a longer documentary about the war in Darfur. That war erupted in 2003 when rebels accused the federal government of repression of the non-Arab population. The government response resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of President Omar al-Bashir for genocide and war crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
That first long film was called Darfur's Skeleton. It explored the plight of those who live in Darfur by letting them tell their narrative in their own voices.
Journey to the Nuba Mountains
Kuka decided for his new project to focus on the displaced in the high semi-arid mountains on the Sudan border. Before he arrived, he had decided the film would be a harrowing tale of people living under siege in Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains.
Kuka was astonished by what he discovered in the camps of the displaced. They were singing and dancing and wrestling - an old athletic tradition among the Nuba - even as the Antonovs from Khartoum flew overhead. He realized the Nubans are making a statement about their the endurance of their cultural identity - with a display of defiance - as African people who are being oppressed and dominated by an Arab Muslim government in Khartoum.
A culture narrowly defined in the capital
The premise of the film is that the war in Sudan is mainly because of the identity issue, Kuka said. He defines the differences as those imposed mainly by ruling Arab-Islamic people on a larger more diverse population.
His short films - shot in different parts of Sudan - focus on music, resistance through non-violence and rights abuses by the Khartoum government. He hopes that his new film will provoke discussions in Sudan about the need to embrace cultural diversity.
The producer of Kuka's latest documentary is Steven Markovitz, a South African who was captivated by a sophisticated and complex argument Kuka has developed in Beats of the Antonov.
A producer sees the point
The producer remembers their first meeting. I looked at some of the material and I immediately knew that A, there was really incredible talent and B, there was unique access to material that I had never seen before. I didn't know anyone who had shot there before.
After he saw the film, Markovitz said I, for the first time, have seen something where I fell back and was trying to get a handle on what's going on in Sudan.
Markovitz believes most Sudan war documentaries are manufactured by international media and foreign reporters who pay only brief visits to the country. As a producer of documentaries in other African countries, Markovitz calls Beats of the Antonov unique.
http://www.voanews.com
00:00
--
LINK: | http://www.filmcontact.com/africa/sudan/sudanese-filmmaker-wins-toront... |
See more stories from filmcontact |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
18/04/2024
Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative
18 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia and Dynamic Television announce new Scripted Initiative Savage River Screen Australia and Los Angeles-based telev...
18/04/2024
Vislink's DragonFly V - The Company's Smallest-Ever Transmitter Debuted at NAB 2024
Vislink's DragonFly V - The Company's Smallest-Ever Transmitter Debuted ...
18/04/2024
MediaSilo to Offer Camera to Cloud with Atomos
MediaSilo to Offer Camera to Cloud with Atomos Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments Integration between MediaSilo and Atomos Cloud Studio unlocking ...
18/04/2024
MultiDyne Updates its SilverBULLET Series to Serve More Fiber-Optic Links
MultiDyne Updates its SilverBULLET Series to Serve More Fiber-Optic Links Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions intro...
18/04/2024
Cinedeck Partners with Paramount to Revolutionize Content Delivery Process
Cinedeck Partners with Paramount to Revolutionize Content Delivery Process Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments Cinedeck, a pioneer in integrated de...
18/04/2024
Unreal for video adding rocks and foliage
Unreal for video adding rocks and foliage Graham Quince April 17, 2024 0 Comments Welcome to my series on learning Unreal Engine for After Effects u...
18/04/2024
Best Budget Beginner-Friendly 4k Drone
Best Budget Beginner-Friendly 4k Drone Sean Alami April 17, 2024 0 Comments Potensic Atom 4k 3 axis Gimbal Drone, ideal drone for beginners. Some con...
18/04/2024
Race or Just Have Fun at Rocky Mount Mills for a Good Cause, Not Your Run of the Mill 5K
Rocky Mount Mills will be overflowing with runners, families and friends, all fo...
18/04/2024
Berklee's Yoon-Ji Lee Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Berklee's Yoon-Ji Lee Receives Guggenheim Fellowship Lee, an assistant professor of composition, creates music based on unconventional and nonlinear struc...
18/04/2024
Ben Sherwood, Former ABC President, Named CEO at The Daily Beast
Ben Sherwood, former president of Disney ABC Television Group, has been named CEO and publisher at The Daily Beast. Joanna Coles, former chief content officer a...
17/04/2024
Sundance Institute Launches RFI and RFP Process to Explore Host Locations for the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and Beyond
Opening today, the exploration is aimed at selecting a location that will preser...
17/04/2024
Spotify's Michael Krause Talks Industry Trends Ahead of Our Music and Podcasting Summits in Germany
On April 18 and 19, experts from across the audio industry-including artists, pu...
17/04/2024
Spotify Brings Entrepreneurs and Trailblazers Together to Talk the Future of Tech in the UK
With its particular combination of talent, ambition, culture, and, of course, wo...
17/04/2024
NextGen Partners With Howard University Professor Nikole Hannah-Jones on Student Podcasting Course
At Spotify, we want to equip student creators with the tools and resources neede...
17/04/2024
Strengthening Australian Industry Capability Through Sovereign Sustainment Support
L3Harris Communications Australia Field Service support continues to grow with a...
17/04/2024
L3Harris Team Aligns 10 Mirrors for NASA's Roman Telescope
An optical technician lays on a diving board suspended between NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes primary and secondary mirrors. The photo is a projected ...
17/04/2024
Graham Media Selects Bitmovin Playback
DENVER Video streaming infrastructure providers Bitmovin has announced that the Graham Media Group has selected Bitmovin Playback to enhance its viewer experien...
17/04/2024
Survey: LGBTQIA+ TV Visibility Drives Viewership Among Young Americans
LGBTQIA+ representation in TV content boosts viewership among young (18-34) Americans, according to a new report from Horowitz Research....
17/04/2024
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Workflows
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Wo...
17/04/2024
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG and Broadcast Production
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG a...
17/04/2024
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND videos
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND vid...
17/04/2024
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia Pilon, who has served as Berklee Valencia's interim executive director since March 2023, has a...
17/04/2024
CBS Cuts Off Billy Joel Concert Telecast (Updated)
CBS will re-air Sundays Billy Joel concert telecast this Friday (April 19) after several CBS-affiliated stations abruptly cut part of Sundays telecast of the si...
17/04/2024
Jacqueline Matter Named Co-Host on WTTG's Good Day DC'
Jacqueline Matter has been named co-host of Good Day DC at WTTG Washington. Effective immediately, she co-anchors the 4 a.m. newscast with Stephen Graddick, rep...
17/04/2024
TV Usage Takes March Dip While College Hoops Help Cable
Television usage took its usual March dip, dropping 3% from February, according to Nielsen,...
17/04/2024
BET, Tyler Perry Extend Content Agreement Through 2028
BET Media Group, part of Paramount Global, said it and Tyler Perry had reached an agreement extending their content production deal through 2028....
17/04/2024
Warner Bros. Discovery Names David Porter Head of Ad Research
Warner Bros. Discovery said it named David Porter head of ad sales research, data and insights....
17/04/2024
Lionsgate Signs Exec VP Lee Hollin To Long-Term Deal
Lionsgate said it signed a new multi-year employment deal with Lee Hollin, its executive VP, television and head of current programming for Lionsgate Television...
17/04/2024
Jessica Rosenworcel Speaks at the Paley Museum April 16
Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel sits for an interview at the Paley Museum in New York April 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Moderated by Nick T...
17/04/2024
Travis Kelce To Host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?' on Prime Video
Travis Kelce will host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spinoff of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, that will stream on Prime Video....
17/04/2024
Amy Alvarez Named News Director at Telemundo's KULX Salt Lake City
Amy Alvarez has been named news director at KULX Salt Lake City, the Telemundo station in the market. She comes from KVDA San Antonio, another Telemundo outlet,...
17/04/2024
Frndly Launches Channel Store, Adding 4 Subscription Services to Lineup
Frndly TV, the low-priced, family-friendly streaming service, said it launched a channel store where users can sign up for subscription streaming services....
17/04/2024
TV Tech Announces Winners of Best of Show Awards at 2024 NAB Show
TV Tech has announced its Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show, April 14-17 in Las Vegas. The awards are judged by a panel of industry experts on the crite...
17/04/2024
Colorfront showcases upgrades across product range
Colorfront has introduced AI vision-analysis tools to assist master QC operations with detecting framing anomalies, dead pixels, bright titles and sparkles By ...
17/04/2024
Meet the Founder and director
By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 17, 2024 Rory Springthorpe, founder and director at outside broadcasting company Vivid Broadcast, talks to TVBEurope a...
17/04/2024
Riedel Enhances Interstellar Technologies Space Launch Wi...
Riedel Communications today announced its collaboration with Interstellar Technologies, a pioneering space transportation company based in Hokkaido, Japan, to o...
17/04/2024
Riedels Simplylive Production Suite Empowers Lafayette Co...
Riedel Communications announced that Lafayette College, a liberal arts college in eastern Pennsylvania and one of 10 core members in the Patriot League, is usin...
17/04/2024
Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic Upgrade Video...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic, part of the Deutsche Telekom (DT) Group, have extende...
17/04/2024
OpenDrives Recognized on the 2024 CRN Storage 100 List
OpenDrives, Inc., the global provider of software-defined media workflow solutions and data management capabilities, is honored to announce its inclusion in the...
17/04/2024
Goldbach to Leverage Operatives new converged advertising...
Operative is pleased to announce a new and expanded partnership with Goldbach Media, one of the leading media sales organizations in Switzerland. This partnersh...
17/04/2024
Roberts Communications Network Selects Appear X Platform...
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, and Roberts Communications Network (Roberts), the leading worldwide video distribution and wagering dat...
17/04/2024
Mobilelinks Chooses Appear for UHD Upgrade of DSNG Trucks
Appear enables Mobilelinks to meet updated technical requirements. Appear, the global leader in live production technology, has been selected by Mobilelinks to...
17/04/2024
Appear and Skyline Communications Strengthen Partnership...
The expanded solution offers enhanced visibility and automation of production and distribution workflows for live event contribution applications Appear, the g...
17/04/2024
In a major step in its growth strategy Econocom launches...
Econocom, a sustainable digital enterprise and pioneer of the circular economy in Europe, today announced the launch of an ambitious campaign as part of the rol...
17/04/2024
Newsmax Extends Relationship with 24i to Rapidly Launch P...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that its 24i Video Cloud for OTT service providers is powering the new Newsmax+ subscription service, ...
17/04/2024
AIMS Welcomes Kakadu Software and 7thSense as New Members
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced its newest members: Kakadu Software provider of the world's leading JPEG 2000 development toolk...