{"id":15840,"date":"2024-12-06T22:02:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T06:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15840"},"modified":"2024-12-09T22:11:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T06:11:53","slug":"sudan-documentary-implores-world-to-remember-how-a-hopeful-revolution-became-a-forgotten-war-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15840","title":{"rendered":"“Sudan documentary implores world to remember how a hopeful revolution became a forgotten war”, Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>BY\u00a0SAM METZ<\/a>, December 6, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) \u2014 In the early days of Sudan\u2019s 2019 revolution<\/a>, Shajane Suliman brought sandwiches, coffee and mint tea to demonstrations in closed-off sections of Khartoum. But as hope made way for despair, she decided more than food was needed to nourish the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public outcry had sprung up against Sudan\u2019s longtime military dictator and his mismanagement of the country\u2019s economy. Throughout months of demonstrations, hundreds were killed or injured by security forces suppressing protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Suliman donned a gas mask and headed to the streets carrying posters adorned with lines like, \u201cSouls cannot be killed, let alone ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A continent away, filmmaker Hind Meddeb was finishing \u201cParis Stalingrad,\u201d a documentary about the plight of refugees living in encampments near the edge of the French capital. Sudanese refugees encouraged her to go to Khartoum and film their nascent revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such is the origin story of \u201cSudan, Remember Us,\u201d Meddeb\u2019s 75-minute documentary being shown in competition at the Marrakech Film Festival<\/a> this week after screening at festivals in Venice and Toronto.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sudan, a predominantly Arab country on the edge of sub-Saharan Africa, descended into civil war in 2023, as fighting erupted between the military and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces<\/a> that grew out of Darfur\u2019s notorious Janjaweed militia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though estimates are difficult to come by, at least 24,000 people have been killed and millions displaced<\/a> in a conflict that has largely been eclipsed in the world\u2019s attention by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Suliman, who ended up as one of its protagonists, the documentary\u2019s purpose is similar to what she wrote on a poster five years ago: an effort to motivate a despairing public years after revolution failed to cement civilian rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revolution, she said, felt like \u201ca piece of heaven\u201d despite the violence, full of music, poetry and optimism about Sudan\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone forgot or lost hope,\u201d Suliman said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cIt\u2019s different for us now than when the revolution started. We were together so it was easy. Now we need to change how we want to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSudan, Remember Us\u201d begins with a series of voice messages to Meddeb from April 2023, the month that civil war broke out. Activists describe their feelings of shock and disbelief about how what U.N. officials have called<\/a> a \u201cforgotten war\u201d has ruined life and made their country unrecognizable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mostly, it brings viewers to 2019, the year that Sudan\u2019s military ousted President Omar al-Bashir<\/a>, paving the way for power-sharing and a short-lived transitional government led by generals and civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Largely shot on a handheld camera in a country that has at times blocked the internet, banned foreign news channels and arrested its own journalists, the movie is both a story of collective hope and a feat of reportage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meddeb\u2019s observational approach and lingering on poems differs from gripping streaming-friendly protest documentaries such as\u00a0Jehane Noujaim\u2019s \u201cThe Square\u201d (2013)<\/a>,\u00a0Evgeny Afineevsky\u2019s \u201cWinter on Fire\u201d (2015)<\/a>\u00a0or Kiwi Chow\u2019s \u201cRevolution of Our Times\u201d (2021). She captures a revolution documentary\u2019s requisite images \u2014 the chaos and terror as well as solidarity and joy of demonstrators facing off against security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the movie aims for a different kind of storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former France 24 journalist, Meddeb gravitated toward documentary for the breathing room it offered to let stories unfold in an unpredictable way, she said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very spontaneous film. I was diving into what was happening and and filming what was inspiring me,\u201d she said at the Marrakech Film Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What she found and was inspired by was a country described as a \u201cland of literature\u201d and a revolution in which women played a central role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protests rendered in the documentary pulsate with drums beating at marches and through the rhythm of poems recited at sit-ins. Meddeb takes the audience from phone camera-filmed street fighting to underground cafes to the Nile River as young people discuss their hopes for Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe revolution was a time of beautiful feelings and projects,\u201d one woman says after security forces killed more than 100 people in a June 2019 massacre. \u201cIt made you want to take part. A painting, a poem, anything to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>SAM METZ<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metz covers Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and points beyond for The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY\u00a0SAM METZ, December 6, 2024 MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) \u2014 In the early days of Sudan\u2019s 2019 revolution, Shajane Suliman brought sandwiches, coffee and mint tea to demonstrations in closed-off sections of Khartoum. But as hope made way for despair, she decided more than food was needed to nourish the movement. Public outcry had sprung up against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15840"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15842,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15840\/revisions\/15842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}