Sudanese Film Bags Award at Berlin International Film Festival

The filmmaker and cast of “Talking About Trees” receive the Berlinale Glashütte Original – Documentary Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Image source: Hajooj Kuka

Talking About Trees, a Sudanese documentary which chronicles the efforts of a group of film enthusiasts to revive an old cinema in Sudan and the country’s love of film, received the Berlinale Glashütte Original – Documentary Award (Panorama Audience Award Winner Panorama Dokumente) at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival at a ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on 16 February 2019.

The audience has spoken: This year’s #Panorama Audience Awards go to ’37 Seconds’ and ‘Talking About Trees’! The award has been established in 1999 and this year, a total of 29.000 votes were cast and counted. Congratulations to the winners! #Berlinale2019 pic.twitter.com/OXpYUGfhej

— Berlinale (@berlinale) February 16, 2019

The Glashütte Original – Documentary Award (funded by @G_O_Manufactory ) goes to ‘Talking About Trees’ by #SuhaibGasmelbari. #Berlinale2019 pic.twitter.com/ajEbrIdmiE

— Berlinale (@berlinale) February 16, 2019

The annual film festival is one of the world’s biggest European film festivals. The 69th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival took place from 7 to 17 February 2019 in Berlin, Germany.

Directed by well-known Sudanese independent filmmaker Suhaib Gasmelbari, Talking About Trees follows a group of retired movie directors of the Sudanese Film Club who try to reopen a theatre in Omdurman in a country dominated by a regime of Islamists who have made the existence of cinema extremely difficult. The club is headed up by four filmmakers — Ibrahim Shadad, Manar Al Hilo, Suleiman Mohamed Ibrahim and Altayeb Mahdi. Their work is revealed in short clips throughout the documentary. 

Talking About Trees was not the only Sudanese film screened at the Berlin International Film Festival. There was another film shining a light on Sudan. Khartoum Offside, the first feature-length documentary by Sudanese filmmaker Marwa Zein, made its world premier in the Forum section of the film festival. Starring Elham Balatone, Nedal Fadlallah, Fatma Gaddal, and Sara Jubara, the film follows a group of young ladies in Khartoum who are determined to play football professionally and battle to get officially recognised as Sudan’s National Woman. Despite the National Football Federation getting FIFA funds earmarked for the women’s teams, this team continues to be marginalised. However, there is a new spark of hope when the elections within the federation could mean real change of the entire system. 

In the midst of the ongoing Sudan uprising, Sudanese Twitter users expressed their enthusiasm about the win of Talking About Trees and its filmmaker Gasmelbari.

صورة مؤثرة و مفرحة بشكل عجيب
المخرج صهيب قسم الباري محتفلاً مع ابطال فيلمه “الحديث عن الأشجار ” الجيل الاول من السينمائين السودانين “الطيب مهدي،منار ،ابراهيم شداد ، سليمان محمد ابراهيم” بعد الفوز بجائزة الجمهور و جائزة قلاشيوت لافضل فيلم وثائقي بمهرجان برلين pic.twitter.com/jS3ci48b10

— Mohammed Alomd’a (@Mohammedalomda_) February 16, 2019

فلم “الحديث عن الأشجار” للمخرج #السودان-ي صهيب قسم الباري يحصل على جائزة الجمهور بقسم في بانوراما مهرجان #برلين للأفلام الوثائقية والفيلم الياباني “37 ثانية” يفوز بجائزة الجمهور للأفلام الروائية. https://t.co/qZ72R8dsro

— Kattab™ (@abdokattab) February 16, 2019

Video | #TalkingAboutTrees by Sudanese Filmmaker Suhaib Gasmelbari wins The #BerinalePanorama Audience Award for Best Documentary. #Berlinale2019 #Sudan 🇸🇩✌🏿✌🏻 pic.twitter.com/YQiCoXoNHb

— برق السودان🇸🇩 (@SDN_BARQ) February 17, 2019

Sudan wins #Berlinale2019 😃

Suhaib Gasmelbari raises the bar for Sudanese films to the roof!

Mad proud! #تسقط_بس️ pic.twitter.com/czaIqYn3Cg

— hajooj kuka (@hajooj) February 17, 2019

Gasmelbari is also the filmmaker behind the award-winning documentary, Sudan’s Forgotten Films, which follows the journey of two men, Benjamin and Awad, who’ve worked together for more than 40 years, running Sudan’s national film archive, attempting to save Sudan’s film archive of 13,000 films – one of the biggest in Africa. The film, produced by Al Jazeera’s flagship programme, Witness, has won the prestigious Arts and Culture Story of the Year Award at the Foreign Press Association Media Awards in London on 26 November 2018.

Haven’t watch Sudan’s Forgotten Films yet? Watch below!

Talking About Tress

Production company: AGAT Films & Cie
Director, screenwriter and cinematographer: Suhaib Gasmelbari
Producer: Marie Balducchi
Editors: Nelly Quettier, Gladys Jouou
Language/s: Arabic, English, Russian
Film duration: 93 minutes