Hussein Shariffe

SUDANESE FILM GROUP in Exile

On April 15 2023, war erupted in Sudan between two rival military factions. Two members of the Sudanese Film Group, Suliman Elnour and Ibrahim Shaddad, had to leave Sudan. They abandoned their work, their archives, their premises and all their worldly possessions and escaped with their families to Egypt in June 2023. The Arsenal wants to support them and asks for help.

Cinema in the Sudan has gone through different periods hugely influenced by the political and cultural climate in the country. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a group of Sudanese filmmakers working in the film department of the Ministry of Culture at the time published the magazine CINEMA. This group founded the Sudanese Film Group (SFG) in April 1989 in order to be able to act more independently of the state. Their aim was to be involved in all aspects of film production, screening and teaching and to maintain the Sudanese* passion for cinema. On 30 June 1989, however, the coup of Omar Al-Bashir, which brought with it a distrust of all forms of art, ended all cultural endeavours. All civil society organisations were banned. In 2005 the firm hand of the state was finally loosened somewhat and SFG was able to register again.

On April 15 2023, war erupted in Sudan between two rival military factions. Hopes for a democratic transition, ignited in 2019 by the overthrow of dictator Al-Bashir, have been crushed in a few short months. By July 2023, over 3.5 million people had been displaced internally or across borders. Documented casualties stand at 12,500 injured, with civilian deaths of over 1000.

Two members of the Sudanese Film Group, Suliman Elnour and Ibrahim Shaddad, had to leave Sudan. Driven by fear of the imminent danger for their lives they abandoned their work, their archives, their premises and all their worldly possessions and escaped with their families to Egypt in June 2023. Since their exile in Cairo they have been trying to surmount the war trauma, coordinate their stay in Egypt and resume their work. Together with five other members of the SFG, three of them also recently fled the country, they are now trying to integrate within the Egyptian film community, exhibit their work and make new relevant films.

As part of the project "Archive außer sich", Arsenal digitally restored seven short films by the group. Together with another film of the SFG Arsenal is distributing them worldwide and released them on DVD. Those films are the only ones of the SFG that are left. To support the group, we ask you now for help. What can you do?

Cinemas or Festivals: Rent the films and show them to your audience. The rental fee for the entire package is 600 Euro (net). To learn about prices for single titles please get in touch with us: [email protected].

Arsenal 3 users: From September, the films will be available throughout Germany, and from October 15 worldwide on Arsenal 3. Stream the films and recommend them to others. The price for a short film is only 3 Euro. https://www.arsenal-3-berlin.de/en/pages/home

Arsenal visitors & everyone: Purchase a DVD for a solidarity price of 20 Euros at our ticket counter or order one from us: [email protected].

Special for Cinemas or Festivals: Within this campaign you can also screen the films by the Sudanese painter, poet and filmmaker Hussein Shariffe (1934–2005). His daughter Eiman Hussein generously offers to pass on all associated revenues to SFG. Shariffe fled into exile following the 1989 military coup. His third and final destination in a long life of transnational displacement was also Cairo, where he continued an exilic art practice that crossed disciplinary boundaries between film, poetry, literature and painting.

This campaign will last until December 31, 2023. All proceeds will go to the directors of the Sudanese Film Group, Arsenal retains only a small handling fee.

Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.

#السودان #أرضاً_سلاح

Sudan Crisis: Saving Memory, Preserving Futures

Tuesday 30 May 2023, 17:30 to 20:00

Bush House, , London

You can book your place for the event either online or at Bush House:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/sudan-crisis-saving-memory-preserving-futures

On April 15 2023, tensions between warring factions in Sudan’s military leadership erupted into full-blown military conflict.

In a few short weeks, Sudan has seen the death and injury of hundreds, witnessed gender and ethnic violence against civilian populations, and experienced refugee waves on a mass scale. As a humanitarian crisis unfolds, public institutions too, including essential healthcare facilities, are under threat.

A cessation of hostilities, global humanitarian action, and political stabilisation must be paramount goals. But cultural heritage too is vital in sustaining shared values, preserving cultural memory, and building peace.

Since the overthrow of dictatorship in Sudan in 2019, cultural heritage, arts and creative institutions and movements have fed the re-emergence of a democratic civil society. King’s College colleagues have offered support in the form of two projects co-funded since 2023 by the Global Cultures Institute.

The Sudan Memory digital archiving project has collaborated since 2013 with partners including the Sudanese Association for Archiving Knowledge (SUDAAK) to conserve and promote cultural materials from official, community and private archives across and beyond Sudan

The Hussein Shariffe audio visual heritage project has worked meanwhile with partners including the Sudan Film Factory and the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, Berlin, to restore to international visibility the films, art and poetry of exile Sudanese artist-filmmaker and pro-democracy public intellectual Hussein Shariffe.

On 30 May, partners from Sudan Memory and the Hussein Shariffe project join with journalists, writers, activists, cultural and NGO practitioners, and political commentators, to explore in a public panel and open forum how our own and similar projects can sustain experiences and memories of shared cultures, and provide platforms from which to contest ongoing violence.

The event begins with presentations from Sudan Memory and the Hussein Shariffe project, alongside a short film from the Sudanese Women’s Museum in Darfur.

A round table with invited panellists is followed by open discussion. All participants are warmly invited to join us for a reception with light refreshments after the event.

Programme

Moderator Professor Erica Carter, King's College London

17. 30: Welcome

Dr Rosa Andujar, Co-Director, King's Global Cultures Institute

Dr Charlotte Joy, Non-Executive Director, Heritage and Culture for the UK, UNESCO

Panel:

Professor Marilyn Deegan, King's Digital Humanities and Sudan Memory

Dr Kate Ashley, architect , KA-Studios and Sudan Memory Project Manager

Dr Eiman Hussein, writer and psychotherapist, Metanoia Institute and FORWARD Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development

other panellists tbc.

Followed by open discussion.

19.00 – 20.00: Reception

Image: Street Art in Khartoum 2019. Sudan Memory Sudan Crisis: Saving Memory, Preserving Futures. Open Forum

______________________________

أزمة السودان: إنقاذ الذاكرة والحفاظ على المستقبل

الثلاثاء 30 مايو 2023 ، 17:30 إلى 20:00

بوش هاوس, , لندن

يمكنكم الحجز لحضور الفعالية أونلاين أو في بوش هاوس على الرابط التالي:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/sudan-crisis-saving-memory-preserving-futures

في 15 أبريل 2023 ، اندلعت التوترات بين الفصائل المتحاربة في القيادة العسكرية السودانية إلى نزاع عسكري شامل. في غضون أسابيع قليلة، شهد السودان مقتل وإصابة المئات، وشهد العنف الجنسي والعرقي ضد السكان المدنيين، وشهد موجات لاجئين على نطاق واسع.

ومع تكشف الأزمة الإنسانية، تتعرض المؤسسات العامة أيضا، بما في ذلك مرافق الرعاية الصحية الأساسية، للتهديد.

يجب أن يكون وقف الأعمال العدائية والعمل الإنساني العالمي والاستقرار السياسي أهدافا قصوى.

لكن التراث الثقافي أيضا أمر حيوي في الحفاظ على القيم المشتركة، والحفاظ على الذاكرة الثقافية، وبناء السلام.

منذ الإطاحة بالديكتاتورية في السودان في عام 2019، غذى التراث الثقافي والفنون والمؤسسات والحركات الإبداعية عودة ظهور مجتمع مدني ديمقراطي.

قدم زملاء كينغز كوليدج الدعم في شكل مشروعين بتمويل مشترك منذ عام 2023 من قبل معهد الثقافات العالمية. يتعاون مشروع الأرشفة الرقمية للذاكرة السودانية منذ عام 2013 مع شركاء بما في ذلك الجمعية السودانية لأرشفة المعرفة (سوداك) لحفظ وتعزيز المواد الثقافية من الأرشيفات الرسمية والمجتمعية والخاصة في جميع أنحاء السودان وخارجه.

وفي الوقت نفسه، عمل مشروع حسين شريف للتراث السمعي البصري مع شركاء من بينهم سودان فيلم فاكتوري ومعهد أرسنال لفن السينما والفيديو في برلين، لإعادة الأفلام واللوحات التشكيلية والشعر للفنان والمخرج السينمائي السوداني المنفي، المفكر المؤيد للديمقراطية حسين شريف إلى الظهور الدولي.

في 30 مايو، ينضم الشركاء من ذاكرة السودان ومشروع حسين شريف إلى الصحفيين والكتاب والناشطين والعاملين في المجال الثقافي والمنظمات غير الحكومية والمعلقين السياسيين، لاستكشاف كيف يمكن لمشاريعنا والمشاريع المماثلة أن تحافظ على تجارب وذكريات الثقافات المشتركة، وتوفر منصات يمكن من خلالها تحدي العنف المستمر.

يبدأ الحدث بعروض من ذاكرة السودان ومشروع حسين شريف، إلى جانب فيلم قصير من متحف المرأة السودانية في دارفور.

ويليه نقاش مفتوح واجتماع مائدة مستديرة مع أعضاء اللجنة.

جميع المشاركين مدعوون للانضمام إلينا في الافتتاح مع مرطبات خفيفة بعد الفعالية.

البرنامج

19.00 – 20.00: الاستقبال

مديرة البرنامج البروفيسورة إيريكا كارتر، أستاذة اللغة الألمانية والسينما، كينجز كوليدج لندن

17. 30: الترحيب

الدكتورة روزا أندوجار، المديرة المشاركة، معهد كينغز للثقافات العالمية

الدكتورة شارلوت جوي، المديرة غير التنفيذية، التراث والثقافة في المملكة المتحدة، اليونسكو

حلقة النقاش:

البروفيسورة مارلين ديغان، كينغز للعلوم الإنسانية الرقمية وذاكرة السودان

الدكتورة كيت آشلي، مهندسة معمارية، استوديوهات (ك أ) ومديرة مشروع الذاكرة السودانية

الدكتورة إيمان حسين، كاتبة وطبيبة نفسية، معهد ميتانويا ومؤسسة فوروارد للبحث والتطوير في مجال صحة المرأة

أعضاء اللجنة الآخرون يحدد لاحقا.

يليها نقاش مفتوح.

الصورة: فن الشارع في الخرطوم 2019. السودان ذاكرة أزمة السودان: حفظ الذاكرة والحفاظ على المستقبل.

Untitled
Painting by Hussein Shariffe
Oil on Canvas
2003
122 by 172cm - 48 by 67¾in

Birth and Death of the Stars
Painting by Hussein Shariffe
1995-96
Oil on Canvas
140.5 by 140.5cm - 55¼ by 55¼in

Monkey Light
Painting by Hussein Shariffe
Oil on board 187⁄8 x 191⁄8in. (48 x 48.7cm.)
Painted in 1997

African Odysseys

Hussein Shariffe: A Life Between Exile and Homecoming
An afternoon looking at the importance of Sudanese experimental and independent filmmaker Hussein Shariffe.

Saturday 07 January 2023 12:00
NFT3

Total running time 300min
Film artist Hussein Shariffe was a pioneer of Sudanese independent and experimental film. He was also a vocal advocate of anti-colonial and democratic resistance. This study day includes screenings from his selected works, including Tigers Are Better Looking (1979, 21min), an adaptation of Jean Rhys story that is also a commentary on London’s African presence, and The Dislocation of Amber (1975, 32min), an experimental film set in the Sudanese port city of Suakin. Film historians and curators will consider Shariffe’s legacy in dialogue with the filmmaker’s daughter Eiman Hussein, and will present perspectives from the ongoing archival retrieval and re-circulation of his work, both within and beyond Sudan.

Programme
12:00 – Introduction: Eiman Hussein, Metanoia Institute, London; Erica Carter, King’s College London

12:20-13:30 – Panel 1: Sudan 1975: Hussein Shariffe and experimental practice
Screening: The Dislocation of Amber (1975, 32min)
Panel: Awa Konaté, Culture Art Society (CAS); Nikolaus Perneczky, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)

14:10-15:20 – Panel 2: London 1979. Chair Erica Carter, King’s College London
Screening: Tigers are Better Looking (1979, 21min)
Panel: Kulraj Phullar, King’s College London, MetFilm School, National Film and Television School; Ming Tiampo, Transnational Slade Project; Imruh Bakari, University of Wi******er.

15:30-16:50 – Panel 3: Archival futures. Chair Laurence Kent, University of Bristol
Compilation screening: Drumz (Anwar Hashem, n.d.: extract 3min); The first camerawoman in the Sudan Film Unit (Sudan Film Unit, 1969: 1min); Towards a Cinema of the Incomplete (Deem bin Jumayd, Mai Nguyen, Niya Namfua, 2021: 11min)
Panel: Samar Abdelrahman, King’s College London; Kate Ashley, Sudan Memory; Umloda Ibrahim, British Film Institute.

British Film Institute

Buy cinema tickets for Hussein Shariffe: A Life Between Exile and Homecoming | BFI Southbank 2023-01-07T12:00:00.000, NFT3

تهنئكم الصفحة بحلول عيد الأضحى المبارك وكل عامٌ وأنتم طيبون، وربنا يحقق لكم ولكل من تحبون كل ما تتمنون، سائلين المولى عز وجل أن يبدل أحزاننا أفراح، ويفشي بيننا التسامح والمحبة والسلام
ومن أم در ربوع سودانا بنحييك وإنت كل أمالنا
فى غربك عروس الرمال وفى شرقك آية جمال
وجنوبك واسع مجال يا حلاة رطبك فى الشمال
بنعيم الجنوب جود لينا ومن فيض كردفان اغنينا
فى شرقك نصيد وادينا شمالك فيهو بركاوينا
تطرب بيك جميع أجيالك وفى كل البقع ترضالك
طوالى الفرح فى بالك يا ربوع شوقنا فى إستقبالك
ولكل ربوع السودان وناسو الطيبين بتمنى أن يمن الله علينا جميعاً بالخير والبركة والسودان بينعم بالحرية والأمن والأمان والسلام والعدالة والمحبة والإستقرار وسيادة حُكم القانون والرضا في ظل وطن حرٌ ديمقراطي معافى يسع جميع أبنائه وبناته.
وبأن تكونوا بخير وفي الخير وعلى خير وفي حفظ المولى عز وجل ورعايته.