Film Review: Revolution from Afar

In December 2018, out of frustration with unbearable living conditions in Sudan, people took to the streets to revolt in limb defiance of the then Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir’s authoritarian rule demanding change, freedom, peace, and justice. 

Sudan’s revolution gained global attention with the #BlueforSudan social media campaign that started following 3 June massacre and a nationwide internet blackout, which left Sudan and the Sudanese diaspora cut off from their friends, family, and the events taking place back home.

A new film, Revolution from Afar, offers a thought provoking yet enlightening and relatable outlook into the dual nature of the identity of the Sudanese diaspora and the unique challenges they faced during the revolution in particular and throughout their lives as well. It features Sudanese-American poets and musicians engaging in performances and a conversation around third culture identity and the revolutionin Sudan, from which they have been physically cut off. 

Filmed in 2019, the film premiered at the Sudan Independent Film Festival (SIFF) in January 2020.  The film was recently screened to a limited audience on 9 June 2020 as part of an online film, performance and discussion event entitled Rising Up: Sudan, which aims to elevate voices of artists, performers, and activists from Sudan and its diaspora as part of Never Again Coalition’s work in support of a continued peaceful transition to full democracy. The Never Again Coalition seeks to prevent and end genocide and mass atrocities through awareness, advocacy and partnerships in Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and with the Rohingya of Burma. 

While doing his PhD in Critical Media Practices at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Brown realised there’s a lack of dialogue in academia and cinema around the psychological impact of being cut off from events in one’s homeland. In addition, he believe there’s a lack of complex discussion of what it means to have a homeland or multiple homelands and the hybrid “third culture” identity that tends to emerge in children when families resettle across borders. As a third culture kid himself, who lived most of his life in Chad and Sudan, he felt it was important to create this film. Brown said,

‘The goal of Revolution from Afar is thus not to document the Sudanese Revolution, but rather to explore the complexities of negotiating identity across oceans.’

Along with co-producer Makkawi Atif Makkawi, a Sudanese American biologist, filmmaker and photographer, Brown embarked on a journey to shoot the film. They followed a number of Sudanese-American musicians, spoken word artists and other young Sudanese-Americans as they attend two summits, one in New York at a gallery launch of work by political cartoonist Khalid Albaih, and another in Denver at a Sudanese-American convention. Together, they captured their emotions, thought process and experiences as they discuss the impact of the revolution and what it means to be Sudanese.

The hour-long film depicts the events that took place during the uprising but from a different angle. It opens with shots of women and men of all ages in a protest, singing revolutionary songs, women wearing teyab, waving the flag of Sudan one their faces or being waved. For a moment, it feels like a scene from the military sit-in in Khartoum, but as the camera zooms out, you realise that this is not in Sudan but rather staged by Sudanese people in America in solidarity with their countrymen and women back home in a bid to relieve some of the frustration of not being able to witness the revolution firsthand in Sudan. 

It begins with a heart-wrenching poem by Sudanese-American spoken word artist, Khadega Mohammed, which speaks about struggle of belonging to two places separated by oceans that were “never meant to meet”, which acts as the motif of the film and sets its tone emotionally.

The film takes you on a retrospective journey, highlighting key moments from Al Bashir’s last speeches to the protests in the streets to the sit-in to memorable moments like that of Alaa Salah and finally to the day of the massacre where the sit-in, which embodied the Sudan everyone dreamt of, was crushed with a fist of violence in a crackdown by the Rapid Security Forces (RSF). 

Despite the fact that the revolution was mostly portrayed in the media as a vibrant and cheerful uprising that gave birth to art in all its forms, the black and white film forces the viewer to pay attention to the emotions and stories of the people speaking. Brown said,

‘This is not some “Look how colourful Africa is!” documentary; rather, it is an in-depth conversation on hybridised identity with global political stakes. The black-and-white helps the viewer focus on what is said, thus privileging the discussion on the topics of identity, agency and psychology, at hand.’

In the film, we see three discussion groups. One with only women, one only with men and one with both men and women. In these honest discussions, the film touches on a different form of resistance – one that, as the name of the film depicts, from afar and the array of feelings that accompany fighting a battle from across the globe. 

The film accurately portrays the experience of the Sudanese diaspora during times of disconnect and discontent and how they had to rely on the strength of their ideals to carry them past the fear and anxiety that came over them as they hoped for real change.

It beautifully captures raw moments of pain and the most heart-wrenching of which were those during the women-only discussion where Hager Mohamedain, a PhD student from Nyala, an area that was targeted by Al Bashir’s regime and suffered multiple genocides on the bases of ethnicity. She narrates a story of how, at the age of 12, during a visit to Sudan she saw people running covered in blood as they were trying to escape a genocide. She reflects on the array of feelings she felt when she heard about the massacre. She explains how the news brought her pain and resurrected even more painful memories as it reminded her of how what happened in Khartoum’s sit-in has been the reality of her people in Nyala for decades. Mohammedan explained,

‘The June 3^rd massacre…I was just like this is just the same thing happening over and over again…So I was like do we matter now? Because the one thing that unifies us now is pain. Kordofan went through it, Darfur went through it, the Nuba mountains went through it and now it touched down in Khartoum. So when people say “All the country is Darfur now, do you really know the meaning of it?’

Sudanese-American rapper Ramey Dawoud said,

‘All these atrocities that Khartoum is seeing now, this was the normal life of people in Darfur. So how come we didn’t turn our pictures blue for them for all these years?’

Following Mohammedan’s story, which left everyone in the room teary-eyed, we witness a moment of accountability and redemption unfold as another woman apologises and regretfully explains how she once took part in downplaying what was happening in Darfur. 

The Sudanese revolution, which was mainly led by young women and men who were born during Al Bashir’s reign, started many long overdue conversations on ethnicity, religion, tribalism and more. Al Bashir’s regime operated on dividing Sudanese people based on ethnicity, instigating hate among different groups and narrowing down the Sudanese identity to an inaccurate and Arabised one which ultimately left out many Sudanese people. In the film, we see how the internalisation of these false beliefs regarding the Sudanese identity left the young generation in a situation where they had to be vocal in disagreement with their parents making the revolution and resistance not only against Al Bashir’s regime but also the ideologies deeply ingrained in people’s minds. 

The film then goes into an in-depth discussion about identity within the context of the revolution. It captures how the uprising gave a sense of purpose to people who always felt “Too Sudanese to be American, too American to be Sudanese” and  third culture kids who felt disconnected from Sudan due to geographical, social and even linguistic barriers and helped in blurring out many of these lines ultimately offering a chance to reconnect and be a part of a Sudanese movement and feel connected to their Sudanese identity. Sudanese-American musician Sinkane said,

‘I was able to connect to my Sudanese identity in a way I didn’t before.’

As we watch these young men and women reflect on their emotions and thoughts during the revolution such as the surreal moment when Al Bashir was ousted, and then the pain, grief and helplessness that took over on the day of the massacre and the terrorising events which followed, a unique take was also portrayed about how the revolution rekindled buried passion in the hearts of the previous generations. For instance, Sinkane’s father, who left in exile, did not engage in political commentary until the revolution broke out and Khadega’s father, who upon hearing about the fall of Al Bashir’s regime, felt he could finally go back to Sudan to reclaim the time that was taken away from him in his country. 

The film offers many contrasting takes. Although the Sudanese diaspora did play an important role during the revolution, there have many arguments between the residents of Sudan and those in the diaspora regarding the commentary of the later group on the events taking place on the ground. The discussion often left the diaspora feeling removed and their voices silenced. In the film we see this topic being addressed. ‘We are free to share our opinions, but we are not in a position to give direction to people on the ground. We are not facing bullets,’ said Dawoud.

Although the film addresses quite heavy topics, yet throughout the film, we see these young people laughing, singing and sharing their stories passionately leaving no room for despair.

The emotional journey on which Revolution from Afar takes the viewer is enlightening, fresh and educational at the same time. Although it only scratched the surface of the plethora of topics related to duality and the Sudanese identity, it showcased a very important and under presented angle. It provided a resource rich in diverse opinions all under the same title aiming to reclaim the Sudanese identity by redefining what it truly means to be Sudanese and the dire need for an inclusive definition that acknowledges the array of Sudanese experiences both inside and outside Sudan. 

The film will be screened on the Mimesis Documentary Festival in August 2020 and the Italian CinemAmbiente — Environmental Film Festival in September 2020. It will also be screened at other international film festivals, despited the COVID-19 pandemic.