Aflam Banat: A Filmmaking Workshop for Sudanese Girls and Women

Aflam Banat is a four-week scriptwriting workshop (narrative fiction), dedicated to highlighting the stories of Sudanese girls and women. The workshop is organised by Sudanese filmmakers Lubna Bagsair and Suzannah Mirghani, who will offer hands-on guided mentorship to six students as they develop their short fiction film scripts and produce the related film dossiers.

The online workshop is free of charge and open to Sudanese girls and women of any age. While the workshop will be conducted in English, the final scripts produced can be in English or Arabic. No previous filmmaking experience is necessary. The goal is to share the very basics of filmmaking with those Sudanese women and girls who have always dreamt of making a film but didn’t know where to start. 

‘With few Sudanese film productions, aspiration for women and girls to become filmmakers is often limited, so we hope this workshop is one of many such projects that aim to support Sudanese women and girls in their endeavors to gain filmmaking skills and to hone their craft. Practice, trial, and error are foundational elements in a filmmaker’s life, and so we hope that the filmmakers in this workshop continue to make films in future workshops, with more professional results every time,’ said the award-winning filmmaker Mirghani, the director of the award-winning short film, Al-Sit (2020).

‘We’re hoping Aflam Banat is just a starting point to bring out creative Sudanese talent. It’s an exciting initiative and we’re looking to continue to foster incredibly rich storytelling from our home,’ said Bagsair, the producer of Back to the Wild (2018).

This programme is supported by a grant through Global Media Makers (GMM), a partnership between film independent and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. GMM is a cultural exchange programme designed to foster relationships between American and international film professionals through comprehensive filmmaking education, business training, professional networking opportunities and tailoured mentorships.

‘I met Lubna Bagsair when we did a filmmaking residency in Los Angeles, organized by GMM and Film Independent. We were so happy to find out there was a total of four Sudanese filmmakers taking part in the programme, including Amjad Abu Alala and Mohammed Kordofani. Towards the end of the residency, GMM announced a grant to support filmmakers giving back to their own communities. Lubna and I spoke about the lack of opportunities for Sudanese filmmakers, especially women, so we decided to apply for the grant to conduct the Aflam Banat workshop, specifically designed for Sudanese women and girls,’ said Mirghani.

At the end of the workshop, Mirghani and Bagsair will offer advice on future funding opportunities, low-budget film production, post-production, screening, film festivals and distribution.

Submission guidelines:
1. Applications are open to Sudanese girls and women of any age. 
2. No previous scriptwriting experience is necessary.
3. The workshop will be conducted online and is free of charge.
4. The workshop will take place over four weeks in September.
5. The one-to-one mentorship sessions are tailoured to the participant’s availability, so don’t worry if you go to school or have a job.
6. While the workshop will be conducted in English, the final scripts produced can be in English or Arabic. 
7. Submit a short fiction film script (maximum 10 pages) or a one-page treatment in English. 
8. Apply via this Google Form: https://tinyurl.com/Aflam-Banat
9. Only six projects will be selected.
10. Application/submission deadline is 20 August 2022.