sure win ph “Every person needs to find their own way to resist” | Interview with filmmakers of 'Khartoum'

A still from 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB A still from 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB Introduction

One of the most surprising things about Khartoum – a documentary made by four Sudanese filmmakers: Anas Saeed, Ibrahim ‘Snoopy’ Ahmad, Rawia Alhag, Timmea Mohamed Ahmed, under the supervision of creative director Phil Cox – is how it dumps the conventional approach to document the aftermath of a civil war. Working on a film following five characters from Sudan’s capital, the makers were forced to improvise when a military coup took place during filming.

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The film also focuses on civilian resistance initiatives, something we don’t often see in the news coverage. Most often it seems as though the people of African and Middle-Eastern countries follow their dictators like sheep, without exercising their voice for freedom. But Khartoum disabuses us of that notion. One of the five protagonists is Jaouad (in the segment directed by Snoopy), who works as a volunteer, using his motorbike to ferry injured protesters to the nearest hospital. The other characters in the film are: Khadmallah - a tea seller; Majdi – a former civil servant; Lokain & Wilson – two boys doing odd jobs on the streets of Khartoum. 

The film tries to recreate its characters’ dreams and experiences during the war using kitschy visual effects in front of a green screen. It reminded me of Anamika Haksar’s Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilaane Le Jaa Riya Hoon (2022), a film that dabbles in similar magic-realist visualisations to bring to the fore the hopes and dreams of the working-class of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi). Similarly, the collective here tries to weave in the social fabric of Sudan into a war documentary. The film premiered at the Sundance film festival 2025, where it was met with rave reviews.

Outlook India caught up with Anas Saeed, Ibrahim ‘Snoopy’ Ahmad, Rawia Alhag, Timmea Mohamed Ahmed and Phil Cox to ask about the documentary’s off-kilter choices, and the role of cinema in educating the world about cultures. Edited excerpts:

The crew behind 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB news The crew behind 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB news Q

At what point did Phil Cox enter the picture, and who had the green screen idea?

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A

Phil: I was making another film in Khartoum in 2021 when the military coup happened. It was chaos, but there was this abandoned space next to where I was working called the Sudan Film Factory. There were a lot of young filmmakers here. Very tech-savvy, but without any of the tech. That’s when I had this idea about how we could improvise.

Earlier, we were making a film which was supposed to be this cinematic poem about the city. It wasn’t a particularly political film – but one that was set around political events (like the people’s demonstrations against their dictatorial leaders). There was a revolution going on. There were no interviews; these filmmakers were following the lives of five civilians. And then suddenly the war broke out, and we had to use the money to get people out of the country. The filmmakers and the subjects met in Kenya – they thought we should continue with the film as an act of resistance. Since I was the creative director, it was my job to tie everything together.

I’ve worked in theatre earlier, and I’ve been a deep admirer of an Argentinian filmmaker called Lola Arias, who casts real people in her films and finds a way to reconstruct their own stories. The stories we wanted to tell were already within the people in our film, but the challenge was how do we get it out visually. So, we decided that the directors will first enact the anecdotes for our subjects because they’d been witnesses to the war as well. And we decided to make a dollhouse using the green screen, and then create 2D animation around it. The directors were clear that they didn’t want the film to be reportage. Hence, we led with dreams and magic-realism. The subjects also participated in the storytelling choices of the film, because we didn’t just want them to share information with us – they shared their dreams and hopes with us.

Q

Where did you first meet your characters, when did you guys start shooting?

A

Anas: I met the tea vendor Khadmallah at her tea-stall, I was a customer there for a long time. It’s customary to visit your neighbourhood tea stall to discuss everything under the sun. She’s educated and she took part in the revolution. That’s how we met her.

Rawyah: When my story got accepted in the film, I couldn’t find kids who could trust me and tell me about their life. We spent a few months looking for them, and I finally found Lokaine and Wilson through Anas. With the consent of both the families, we worked for about six-seven months, and then the war broke out. Then we had to all flee, and get them somewhere safe.

Timmea: I met Jaouad in the second phase of the film, in Kenya. He represents the youth of Sudan, and all the contradictions of Khartoum. He’s a rasta, he’s also a Sufi. He’s an active member of the resistance, but he’s also a deeply religious person. He’s all of it. I think that’s why he’s such a unique character to me, and why it makes so much sense to make a film around him. Jaouad also somehow owns a chain of restaurants today, in Egypt and in Kenya. He employs many refugees – so turning his own opportunities into an opportunity for others too.

A still from 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB A still from 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB Q

Documentary can be a continuous, on-going process – when did you know it was time to stop?

A

Phil: That’s a good question! When Snoopy and I started, we had a pre-war Khartoum. So, we knew we had a before and an after. The middle was the war. We had no footage of the war – so that’s what the middle was. We knew where it began, and where they were after the war. So, we had to be creative in the middle. Otherwise, we had verité footage of before/after the war.

Q

I’ve rarely ever seen news of the Sudanese resistance in India. We only hear about how one dictator overthrew the other dictator etc.

A

Phil: I think there are two parts to an answer to this. Maybe Timmea can take the second part. But, I think, there might be some media fatigue with respect to how many conflicts they can show in a news show these days.

Timmea: How have we learned about Detroit, Mumbai, Delhi? McDonalds, fast food etc? We’ve learned it through cinema. Even my English comes from movies, not from reading books. We weren’t even aware – it was just feeding us this information, about cultures, about language. And I think with this film, we wanted to do the same about Sudanese culture – how do we dress, how do we dance, what do we like to eat etc. It’s our effort to educate the world about Sudan.

Lokain and Wilson in 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB Lokain and Wilson in 'Khartoum' Photo: IMDB Q

In a world more ravaged, divided, hateful than ever – what’s the one thing that keeps you all going as artists?

A

Phil: I thought this was a tremendous World cinema project for me, especially considering how the filmmakers were determined to tell their story in an unusual manner. It might as well fall from a cliff, but it would be an exciting opportunity nonetheless. I think, as an artist, if you’re certain about what you don’t want – it’s a start. We knew we didn’t want to make a film that said – here’s Africa in crisis. We didn’t have bosses sitting on our heads because we raised very little money to make the film, and it actually freed us in ways more than we’d imagined. No one was telling us what we couldn’t do in the film.

Snoopy: We’re fortunate to be outside of Sudan right now, allowing us to continue to create resistance art. We might not be forced to do it, but we’re ambassadors in a way for our nation. We kinda’ see it as our responsibility to tell the world about what’s going on in Sudan – a lot of people back home are depending on our film reaching as wide as possible. Whether it’s Geneva, Berlin or any major film festival in the world, we’ve got to make their voices heard as far as possible. This responsibility becomes the motivation we need to keep going.

Phil: These four young Sudanese filmmakers on a global stage is a really positive story. Especially when everything related to Sudan is coloured in death and disaster. Since, they’re travelling around and meeting policymakers – it’s a story of initiative, not just of victim(hood).

Anas: And we also wanted to make sure that this film represented the citizens of Sudan. It’s not trying to be partisan about which political leader is good or bad, but just mirroring the confusion of the general public with them.

Rawyah: First of all, the coverage of Sudan’s civil war is not enough. There’s so much coverage of Ukraine, Gaza, but nearly nothing on Sudan. This film was our only chance at telling our story. Also, for other filmmakers around us, we wanted to showcase our own hopes, resilience, challenges through these films.

Timmea: I think the numbers are for everyone to just Google. We have more than 12 million people displaced. We have famine, human rights violations… the whole package basically. It’s very easy to have given in to the emotional fatigue around such stories, because of just how widespread it is. It’s like news… news… news… nobody cares. What we really wanted to do with this film – is make ourselves relatable as a culture for the outside world. Maybe, then they can start seeing Sudan in a different light.

Q

I enjoyed how Khartoum – despite being a war documentary – also acts as a primer on Sudan as a country and its culture.

A

Phil: It was certainly not an accident. There are layers to the film, especially if you’re from Sudan. The tapestries of Sudanese culture are just so varied. It’s like filming something in Kolkata, and only talking about how there’s abject poverty over there. Every street in a city has its own story to tell – its own music, its own culture. Khartoum is such a deeply heterogeneous culture featuring all of Sudanese culture – what’s the Indian equivalent? Mumbai? So, we knew the film would not be just about a crisis, war. Lives were being lived before the hostility began.

Q

I want to pose this question to Phil – do you think war documentaries are doing anything to move the needle in the real world? What’s their function in a world like today’s, where genocide has become so commonplace?

A

Phil: It kinda’ depends on the benchmark you’re setting for a film. I think this one genuinely inspires. It reminds us that as hard as things can be, people can still be courageous and wonderful. If the coverage is only despair, this film challenges that notion. Sure, the circumstances are dire – but these people are strong, they’re warm and they’re like you and me. Whether I watch this film in Britain, France or India.

Now, does a film really have to change the world? Not really. Sometimes every person needs to find their own way to resist or fight back. For filmmakers like us, this is our only way to react to the world. If we don’t agree with Modi, maybe we can help our neighbourhood Muslim gardener. Small acts can make a huge difference, we tend to often underestimate them. Films might not always change policy, but it can have an effect. Since this is the only film to come out of Sudan, I think it will be seen by many important politicians, diplomats and policymakers. I’m hoping something comes out of this.

In Britain, films have brought about change. Ken Loach, Bertolt Brecht in Germany, their work has had a significant impact on our lives.

Snoopy: The change has already happened in our lives, our subjects. The kids, filmed by Rawyah, are now going to school in Kenya. She’s their local guardian too. So, we’re really tightly knit with our subjects. They were polishing shoes of the soldiers in Sudan, and I think if not for this film they might probably be dead by now. Khadmallah, Jaouad – they all employ refugees.

Phil: As much as we wanted to make a cinematic film about Sudanese culture, each and every one of us is engaged with our respective subjects. We’re almost like a family now. It’s not just about creating art, but also about engaging with the grassroot realities.

Khartoum had its world premiere at the Sundance film festival 2025 in the World documentary competition.sure win ph