Hind Meddeb’s Sudan, Remember Us is a documentary depicting perpetual cycles of advance and retreat of revolution. It begins with epistolary narrative, as the director and her activist friend Maha share narrating duties here. They talk about Khartoum as a ghost town, and there are times when the city is like that. But there are others when viewers realise how deceptive that silence is, as its citizens show themselves. They’re trying to depose Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ruling the country with a ‘council’ thanks to a coup. The citizens fight in the only way they know how, by taking the streets and voicing their laments.
Meddeb has the difficult task of encapsulating the last four years of Sudanese politics, obscure to most. The 2023 Sudanese civil war is one of the few conflicts taking place today vying for Western media’s attention. One of Meddeb’s hurdles is to let the world hear the voice of a country in lengthened turmoil. Meddeb decides to show a woman reciting poetry amongst a circle of men, reciting a whole poem about the corrupt Islamist government. Sudan, Remember Us shows both hope for a gender equal utopia and one that echoes Black voices.
Again, Sudan, Remember Us‘ choice is to put people on top of politics – even if it juggles both. Meddeb shows men and women together, talking about starting workplace strikes to help topple the military regime. The military launches a massacre on those camping on the streets, a massacre that makes the resistance stronger.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Documentary
- Release Date: 9/9/2024
- Directed by: Hind Meddeb
- Produced by: Abel Nahmias, Michel Zana
- Studio: Blue Train Films, CNC, Echo Films
