Two Sudanese Films Win Big at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival

You Will Die At Twenty by Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala received the Golden Star Award for Best Feature Narrative and Talking About Trees by Sudanese filmmaker Suhaib Gasmelbari received the Best Feature Documentary award at the third edition of El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), which took place in the resort town of El Gouna in the Red Sea, Egypt from 19 to 27 September 2019.

we awarded all the incredible winners from #GFF19.⁣ Checkout the full list below.
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FEATURE NARRATIVE COMPETITION⁣
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-El Gouna Golden Star for Narrative Film: ‘You Will Die at Twenty’ by Amjad Abu Alala⁣

— El Gouna Film Festival (@ElGounaFilm) September 28, 2019

The much-acclaimed Sudanese film, You Will Die At Twenty, took home USD50,000 (EUR45,699) in prize money which Abu Alala plans to invest into Sudan’s film infrastructure. Abu Alala is Head of the Programming Committee of the Sudan Independent Film Festival (SIFF).

A very emotional moment for all our cast and crew. Winning El Gouna Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Star for Best Narrative Film, is dedicated to #Sudan, its people and everyone who helped make #YouWillDieat20 a reality. pic.twitter.com/2pRMeQdEYE

— You Will Die At Twenty (@YouWillDieAt20) September 28, 2019

The annual GFF was established in 2017, aiming to provide a platform for Middle East producers. Its goal is to connect filmmakers from the region with their international counterparts in the spirit of cooperation and cultural exchange. The festival strives to be a catalyst for the development of cinema in the Arab world, particularly through its industry segment, CineGouna Platform.

On 7 September 2019, You Will Die At Twenty received the Lion of the Future (Luigi de Laurentiis) Award for Best Debut Feature at the 76th Venice International Film Festival (VIFF), becoming the first Sudanese film to win an award at the Italian film festival.

#BiennaleCinema2019
Leone del Futuro – Premio Venezia Opera Prima (Luigi De Laurentiis) Lion of the Future / “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film a/to:
You Will Die At 20 di/by Amjad Abu Alala pic.twitter.com/kOcK8E4cRc

— Biennale di Venezia (@la_Biennale) September 7, 2019

The film premiered at the VIFF, which took place from 28 August to 7 September 2019. The film was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which took place from 5 to 15 September 2019.

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 on 16 February 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.

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