CAIRO: Nearly two years after the overthrow of autocrat Omar Bashir, Sudan is taking steps to rejoin the international community from which it was long shunned. That includes its film industry.
For the first time in its history, Sudan has a submission for the Academy Awards. Produced by a consortium of European and Egyptian companies but with a Sudanese director and cast, “You Will Die at Twenty” will compete in the Best International Feature Film category.
The story follows a young man whose death at the age of 20 is prophesied not long after his birth, casting a shadow over his formative years, and parallels the burdens placed on a generation of Sudan’s young people.
Based on a short story by Sudanese novelist Hammour Ziyada, critics say it demonstrates that the country’s cultural scene is reawakening after decades of oppression.
The film was produced amid mass demonstrations against Bashir, who was toppled by the military in April 2019 after ruling the country for nearly 30 years.
“It was an adventure,” filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala told The Associated Press. “There were protests in the streets that had grown to a revolution by the beginning of filming.”
Sudan’s uprising erupted in late 2018, and as the number of people in the streets swelled, many of them young, the military stepped in and toppled the Islamist president. Since then, the country has embarked on a fragile transition to democracy, ending years of theocratic rule that limited artists’ freedoms.
The film’s submission was announced in November by the country’s ministry of culture, a month before the second anniversary of the start of the uprising.
It follows a narrative written by Ziyada in the early 2000s that chronicles the life of a child in 1960s in a remote village, located between the Blue and White Nile rivers. The inhabitants are largely guided by ancient Sufi beliefs and traditions, a mystical strain of Islam.
The film starts when a mother, Sakina, takes her newborn boy to a Sufi ceremony at a nearby shrine as a blessing. As a sheikh gives his blessing, a man in traditional clothing performs a meditative dance, suddenly stopping after 20 turns, falling to the ground — a bad omen.
The frightened mother appeals to the Sheikh to give an explanation. But he says, “God’s command is inevitable.” At this point, the crowd understands this is a prophecy predicting the child will die at 20.
Stunned and frustrated, the father leaves his wife and son, named Muzamil, to face their fate alone.
Muzamil grows up under the watchful eye of his overprotective mother, who wears black in anticipation of his early demise. He is haunted by the prophecy — even other children name him “the son of death.”
Despite that, Muzamil proves to be an inquisitive boy full of life. His mother allows him to go to study the Qur’an. He receives praise for his memorization and recitation of verses. Then comes a turning point.
A cinematographer, Suliman, returns to the village after years working abroad. Muzamil, who is by now working as an assistant to the village shopkeeper, gets to know him through delivering him alcohol, a social taboo.
Suliman, who lives with a prostitute, opens Muzamil’s eyes to the outside world. Through their discussions, he starts to doubt the prophecy that has governed his life so far and torn his family apart.
As he turns 19, Muzamil takes it upon himself to decide what it means to be alive, even as death beckons.
The film has received positive reviews from international critics. It premiered at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival’s parallel section, Venice Days. It won the Lion of the Future for Best First Feature — the first Sudanese film to do so. Since then, it has won at least two dozen awards at film festivals worldwide.
Abu Alala says his team tackled obstacles in making the film, thrown up by the same conservative milieu that it depicts. He blames the environment created by Bashir, who came to power in a military coup in 1989. Under his rule, limited personal freedoms meant art was viewed with suspicion by many.
One major challenge, he said, was that local residents at the initial filming location objected to their presence. The crew was forced to move, but they persevered.
“We believed that it should be done under any circumstances,” Abu Alala said. He says that it was lucky that the film’s production period coincided with the cultural watershed moment of the uprising. The previous government wouldn’t have been a proponent of his work.
The movie has also been met with commendations from inside the region.
“It is a very real and local film that makes the audience feel all of its details whenever and whoever they are,” wrote Egyptian film critic Tarik el-Shenawy.
The film is only the eighth to be made inside Sudan. Abu Alala says that its selection shows Sudan has countless stories that remain untold.
“There wasn’t a film industry existing in Sudan — only individual attempts ... Sudan’s rulers — communists or Islamists — were not interested in cinema. They just were interested in having artists on their sides,” he said.
Now, he hopes that he and other filmmakers will have the freedom to share Sudan’s stories with the world.
A Sudan in transition presents first-ever film for Oscars
https://arab.news/w9dvs
A Sudan in transition presents first-ever film for Oscars
- Muzamil grows up under the watchful eye of his overprotective mother, who wears black in anticipation of his early demise. He is haunted by the prophecy — even other children name him “the son of death”
700 works entered for Dammam’s small-format art exhibition
- Event seeks to ‘bridge the gap between artists and the public,’ organizer says
- Successful pieces to be announced on July 17
DAMMAM: Artists from across the country have submitted more than 700 works for the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts in Dammam’s annual showcase.
Now in its sixth year, the “Endless Possibilities for Art” exhibition focuses exclusively on works measuring 30 cm by 30 cm and seeks to deepen connections between artists and viewers by creating interactive display environments.
A total of 705 pieces from 235 artists in 25 cities were entered for this year’s show and the submission process is now closed, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Youssef Al-Harbi, the society’s director, said: “This initiative seeks to bridge the gap between artists and the public by making original artworks more attainable and fostering a deeper connection between creators and collectors through deeper sensory and visual readings of artistic works.
“It also showcases the richness of techniques and diversity of artistic schools, reflecting the cultural and visual diversity of the Kingdom’s regions and their aesthetic uniqueness.”
The show built on the society’s ongoing efforts to champion visual arts and encouraged artists and collectors to find common ground through ownership, he said.
The society will announce which works have been chosen for the exhibition on July 17.
The Open Crate: Meet the women protecting the Arab world’s artistic heritage
BEIRUT: What’s the point of owning a beautiful collection — whether art or collectibles — if there’s no proper way to showcase or preserve it?
This question lies at the heart of The Open Crate, a platform designed to help collectors digitize and preserve their collections. Founded by art specialists Amina Debbiche and Nora Mansour, the company offers an inventory and archiving service that catalogs everything from fine art and furniture to watches, books, and pens.
“People know exactly which crypto they have in their portfolio. But when it comes to art, they don't even remember the name of the artist on the wall,” said Mansour, a Lebanese finance expert turned art curator.
Debbiche and Mansour noted the urgency of digitizing art catalogues — especially in the Arab world.
“The thing with art, especially in our region of the world, is that it’s mostly held in private hands,” said Debbiche, a Tunisian art aficionado.
The privatization of artwork in a region with hotspots of instability makes the act of documentation a deeply political one: a means of preserving the unspoken victims of war — art.
To explain this, Mansour gave Arab News a hypothetical example: think of a Palestinian family in Jerusalem whose house is looted — if their artwork is documented, there’s proof it existed. It’s a map of what you own.
“It’s like our child, you know — it’s like having a baby together,” Mansour joked.
The child they created, The Open Crate, boldly and indirectly addresses an unspoken issue that has long plagued the region. Like any child, it has the potential to grow and carve out a name that its ancestors, and future generations, can be proud of.
US Qatari Sophia Al-Maria wins 2025 Frieze Artist Award
DUBAI: US Qatari artist and writer Sophia Al-Maria has been announced as the recipient of the 2025 Frieze Artist Award, one of the art world’s most highly anticipated annual commissions.
The award is part of Frieze London, a leading international art fair that will return to Regent’s Park from Oct. 15-19, bringing together more than 280 galleries from 45 countries.
Presented in partnership with Forma, the award supports early- to mid-career artists in debuting new works. This year, Al-Maria will perform “Wall Based Work (a Trompe LOL),” a live stand-up comedy show held daily inside the fair tent.
The work marks Al-Maria’s first attempt at stand-up, in which she will blend sharp humor with her long-standing interest in mythology, empire and pop culture.
“In partnership with Forma, we are proud to continue supporting artist-centered programming,” said Eva Langret, director of Frieze EMEA. “Al-Maria’s debut stand-up promises a collective experience exploring vulnerability, creativity, shared anxieties and LOLs.”
Meanwhile, Chris Rawcliffe, artistic director at Forma, said: “By wielding humor as a tool for survival, Al-Maria not only provokes reflection but actively reshapes the cultural conversation … Al-Maria is more than an artist and critic, she is a catalyst for change, and an indispensable voice in both the art world and the wider social landscape.”
Al-Maria’s proposal was selected by a jury of leading industry professionals, including curator and museum consultant Lydia Yee and the artistic director of exhibitions at Ikon Gallery, Melanie Pocock, artistic director of exhibitions at Ikon Gallery, as well as Langret and Rawcliffe.
Based in London, Al-Maria works across drawing, collage, sculpture, film and writing. Her practice is unified by a focus on storytelling and mythmaking, often reimagining histories and envisioning speculative futures. Her work has been shown at major institutions and biennales, including the Gwangju Biennale, the New Museum and Whitney Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, and Tate Britain.
Artists push the boundaries of technology in new media arts residency in Riyadh
- Residency displays futuristic artwork inspired by the natural landscape and culture of the Kingdom
- Diriyah Art Futures brings together artists from around the world, combining art, science and technology
RIYADH: Diriyah Art Futures opened a new residency displaying cutting-edge artwork in Riyadh on Wednesday evening.
The Mazra’ah Media Art Residency spring/summer 2025 open studio displays work that combines art, science and technology.
It is a three-month program designed for artists and scholars working across new media and digital art.
The theme, “High-Resolution Dreams of Sand,” explored the evolving relationships between humans, nature and technology in rapidly changing environments, informed by the distinctive contexts of Diriyah and Riyadh.
The evening’s open studio offered a behind-the-scenes look at work in progress from the spring/summer 2025 residents, alongside talks and studio discussions.
In the studios, Arab News met with various artists including Saudi Arwa Al-Neami whose creations explore themes of acceptance, identity and societal transformation.
During the residency, she undertook an artistic investigation of Saudi Arabia’s landscapes, collecting sand samples from various regions across the Kingdom.
Through nano microscopy and advanced imaging techniques, she created an immersive sensory experience that transforms microscopic grains of sand into pieces of art in the form of films, virtual reality and 3D-printed sculptures.
She told Arab News: “I am currently researching seven different areas in the Kingdom, where I’m exploring the sound of the sun using specialized sensors during sunrise and sunset. The resulting sound waves are translated into frequencies that create audible sounds.
“By analyzing the sound of the sun and the atomic structure of sands, I produce artwork that highlights the differences across various regions of Saudi Arabia.”
For 90 days, artist Dr. Stanza has been creating a whole body of work based on Saudi Arabia using real-time data including weather forecasts, pollution stats and news feeds.
Using an AI prompt, he created the series “Sons of Time” — an interactive Internet installation inspired by cybernetics and the future.
His other work, “Machine Cities,” connects 90 cities and towns across the Kingdom and tracks them in real time, presenting a visualization that the public can engage with.
The London-based artist has exhibited worldwide and earned numerous awards for his use of the Internet as an art medium.
“While I’ve been here, what I’ve really learned about Saudi Arabia is it’s a very warm and inclusive country that’s moving forward toward 2030.
“There’s a whole series of ideas about AI and agency that (are) also incorporated within my artworks. I look forward to presenting some of these works here in the future,” he told Arab News.
Indian artist Harshit Agrawal has taken his time at the residency to contemplate the juxtaposition of Diriyah’s rich heritage with its exponential development in the past few years.
Set against Diriyah’s historic farms and Riyadh’s evolving environment, the participants were encouraged to consider the impact of technology on natural and constructed landscapes.
“While I was here, I was quite fascinated, in my early days by the cultural richness, the different practices of culture, but also Diriyah as a city in transition in this beautiful time where it’s developing into something else with all these constructions and all these new things that are happening,” Agrawal told Arab News.
In “Machinic Meditations,” the artist was particularly fascinated with subhas, or prayer beads, that are commonly used in Saudi Arabia.
This prompted his research, where he also found electronic subhas. “It’s quite fascinating to move from this kind of manual device to an electronic version of it,” he said.
“I started thinking — because I work a lot with machine learning, AI data— what is the extreme scenario of that? So, I created these devices, which are motorized systems that rotate these beads autonomously, and they keep doing that continuously.
“And with each rotation, they pick up new human data to meditate on. It’s kind of the machine’s version of meditating, but on human data and climate data.”
In “Data Excavations: The New Soil,” the artist takes inspiration from construction and excavation machinery, using its mobility as a way to write out words in a choreographed manner using light strips.
“It’s been a really exciting time to be here, because it’s a great intersection between deep cultural practices that are here that I can kind of see in the city, but also really cutting-edge studios and facilities that I’ve had and (been) exposed through the material residency,” he said.
The open studio event welcomed a number of artists and prominent figures in the art scene, aiming to introduce them to the findings and research of this year’s cohort around new media arts in the region.
“Having Saudi Arabia attracting so many different cultures right now is a great thing, for artists to meet and research in the new media and technology is a great thing because they can implement their culture’s ideas in so many different ways and that’s what we see here — it’s a great cultural bridge,” visual artist Lulwah AI-Hamoud, who was attending the event, told Arab News.
DAF Director Haytham Nawar and DAF Director of Education Dr. Tegan Bristow delivered opening remarks, followed by talks from Dr. Anett Holzheid, an ZKM science and art researcher and curator, and Mizuho Yamazaki, an independent writer and scholar.
Attendees then enjoyed an open studio preview with Dr. Stanza, before a break for networking and a tour of the fabrication lab, sound lab and prototypes.
The evening concluded with studio discussions featuring Arwa Alneami, Harshit Agrawal and Reem Alnasser, all media artists.
Exhibition on animal rights in Athens spotlights Arab artists
ATHENS: An art exhibition at EMST, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, ponders a challenging yet crucial question: What are the rights of animals?
The exhibition, “Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives,” curated by EMST’s artistic director Katerina Gregos, is among the most ambitious staged by a public institution on animal ethics at a time when wars rage around the world and basic human rights are in crisis.
The show presents more than 200 works by 60 contemporary artists from four continents and runs until Jan. 7, 2026.
Evocatively curated, with works unfolding in the various rooms of the museum in dialogue with the visitor and each other, the various depictions of animals prompt both philosophical and political questions.
The show evokes questions on the nature of humanity, the emotional intelligence of animals and how to confront systems of political domination, such as colonialism and rampant industrialization, that have restricted humans and animals.
From the Arab world, Egyptian artist Nabil Boutros has created “Celebrities,” a moving series of studio portraits of lambs, ewes and rams. Each image depicts not only their aesthetic beauty but seemingly also their emotional state.
“I wanted to talk about the human condition through these works,” Boutros told Arab News. “These first portraits of (these animals) show they are different. They have different races, different attitudes and different characters, but we never look at them.”
“What is our relationship with animals? Is it just about food, about slaughtering?” he asked. “We are all part of this world and there is a whole organic structure that connects us that has been forgotten.”
Boutros’ touching portraits, exalting the personality and individuality of each animal, similar to traditional human portraiture, show us a rarely encountered world of animals and their emotional depth.
“They’re very expressive,” said Boutros, when discussing the moments he photographed them. “We imagine that they don’t have feelings, but that is not true.”
Algerian artist Oussama Tabti’s “Homo-Carduelis” is an installation that covers an entire wall of empty birdcages, each encompassing a speaker playing a birdsong created by human voices to imitate that of birds.
The work strives to show the connection between animals and humans. “The idea for the work came from the goldfinch, an appreciated bird in Algeria,” Tabti told Arab News.
“Born and raised in Algeria, the goldfinch was always in our daily soundscape.
“My work talks about the relation between the bird and the human because people appreciate (the goldfinch) and have it as a pet. They keep the bird in a cage and sometimes even go for a walk with it.”
Tabti finds the relationship at times “awkward and strange.” He thinks that Algerians at times “identify themselves in the birds.”
He added: “The work goes beyond the state of Algeria to reflect on the state of the human condition. Each one of us is in our own cage; it could be work, the environment or even one’s identity.
“I thought the bird in a cage would be a good metaphor for what we are today as human beings. We human beings are able to accomplish a lot but we live in a society that does not let us be completely autonomous.”
“For this installation,” said Tabti, “it was important for me that we can hear the birds, imitated by human beings, so it is like a human in a cage.”
