TALKING ABOUT TREES
DCP/HD • COLOR • 2019 • FRANCE/SUDAN/GERMANY/CHAD/QATAR • 93'
A film by Suhaib Gasmelbari
Ibrahim, Soliman, Manar and Altayeb, filmmakers and friends for more than 45 years, idealists and intensely humane.
They were reunited again, after long years of distance and exile, to bring life back to their old dream: make cinema a reality in Sudan.
They are determined to leave a trace of their passage and inspire the love for cinema. Throughout the images they created, the ones they lost and the ones remaining a desire, the beautiful and horrific faces of their country appear.
Produced by Agat Film & Cie
In co-production with Made in Germany Filmproduktion, Goï-Goï Productions
Original languages: Arabic, English
Suhaib Gasmelbari was born in 1979 in Sudan. He studied Cinema in France at the University of Paris VIII. He has written and directed several shorts, both fiction and documentary. TALKING ABOUT TREES is his first feature.
He is also a researcher with a special focus on audio-visual archives. Through his research he was able to find some long-lost Sudanese films and actively participate in international and local projects for saving and digitizing Sudanese films, including those of Ibrahim Shadad, Suleiman Mohamed Ibrahim and Altayeb Mahdi.
Director's Statement
“Why did you return back to Sudan, what do you want to do. Go back to Europe, make European movies or sit here with us on our waiting bench”
That is the dilemma I was given by my Sudanese elders. The elders in question are the filmmakers who founded the Sudanese Film Group in 1989. They are now aged between 70 and 83 and travel throughout the country with the small mobile cinema that they have founded. They pass their knowledge on to people and inspire the love of cinema, despite the hardships and despite their canvas screen that cannot withstand storms. This is the tale of their 45 years of attempting to make films and of the tireless hope that unites them forever. The story of a struggle of a gang of 4 crafty men with a witty sense of humor.
Distributors: Against Gravity (Poland) • Be TV (Belgium) • Filmink (Australia & New-Zealand) • Lemon Tree (China) • New Wave (UK & Ireland)
Festivals: Berlinale 2019 - Panorama Section • Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias • Dok Fest München • Doc Edge Festival • Istanbul Film Festival • Sydney Film Festival
Awards: Glaschütte Original Documentary Award, Berlinale 2019 • Fipresci Prize and Special Jury Prize, Istanbul Film Festival 2019