PRESS RELEASE
Five lives, one city... the fate of a nation. The 75th Berlinale has come to a close and KHARTOUM, the Sudanese documentary about the lives and dreams of five citizens of Sudan’s capital, has made a strong impression on the Festival and its audiences.
Directed by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed and Phil Cox and produced by Giovanna Stopponi for Native Voice Films and Talal Afifi for Sudan Film Factory, the film has taken home recognition from two of the Independent Juries, winning the Peace Film Prize and receiving an honorable mention from the jury of the first Amnesty International Film Award. Additionally, Berlinale visitors deemed the film one of their favorites, as KHARTOUM came in third place for the Panorama Audience Award for Documentary Film.
The independent Peace Film Prize is awarded annually to films that distinguish themselves through a powerful message of peace and the skilful aesthetic execution of their themes. The jury for the award is composed of seven members, who view films from all sections. The Peace Film Prize is endowed with 5,000 euros in prize money and is presented in the form of a bronze sculpture designed by Otmar Alt. The award is made possible with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Weltfriedensdienst e.V.
The jury members for 2025 were Jakob Alexander Grasböck, Therese Berg, Billie Mind, Jakobine Motz and Jasmina Barckhausen.
The jury statement reads: “The documentary KHARTOUM follows five people in the Sudanese capital as they go about their daily lives in a burgeoning democracy. When war breaks out in April 2023, it is impossible to continue filming on location. The filmmakers decide to flee and also help the protagonists to flee. In exile, the five re-enact their traumatic war experiences in a confined space and encourage each other to keep pursuing their dreams. The skillful combination of documentary material and fictional elements creates images that are emotionally moving and at the same time make visible the processes of coming to terms with the past.
KHARTOUM strikes a unique balance between political urgency and poetry. The film is a plea for the healing power of sharing stories. In doing so, it creates a hopeful outlook for the future and for building peace.”
The Amnesty International Film Award jury, which included actress Florence Kasumba and director Soleen Yusef said:
“The film KHARTOUM receives an honorable mention because it tells the story of a conflict forgotten by the world under the most difficult conditions: the war in Sudan. The directors show this in a cinematically experimental way: the work on the film and reality - the fate of the filmmakers and protagonists - merge into one another. Forced to flee from the war, the staging of their experiences in front of green screens becomes a sign of their commonality.
Despite the severity of war and displacement, the film is hopeful, poetic and playful. It finds a new narrative form of remembering and processing trauma. The protagonists come together, not only to denounce the history of the conflict. They give hope, also in their language: ‘Nightmares always end.’”
Producer Giovanna Stopponi said: “The audience’s emotional reaction to KHARTOUM gave resonance to the humanity we wanted to get across. It is a powerful experience to touch so many people at the core. KHARTOUM is a production forged out of war. Faced with the immensity of the Sudan crisis, I’m so proud that as a team, despite so many obstacles, we created both inspiring new cinema as well as a determination to care for each other and our participants. Our film is an innovative cinema of resistance in the face of militarism and war and we are honored to receive the Berlinale Peace Film Prize from the Heinrich Boll Foundation”
Director Rawia Alhag shared: “Our ambition with the film was to touch people’s feelings from the original stories from Sudan and I’m very happy that the film achieved this.“
On being selected as one of the three documentaries to receive the Panorama Audience Award, Director Ibrahim Snoopy said: “The audience experience here was amazing and everyone seemed happy to engage with the film, which for us presented a new perspective in a new creative way. We weren’t intimidated by our lack of funding, but instead we turned that into a creative powerhouse and now the audience gets to go on that journey with us. Being here at the Berlinale for the first time, we never expected it. When we were in production we didn’t think it would reach this level.“
Director Timeea Mohamed Ahmed remarked: “The Berlinale has been a wonderful moment for all of the team and we are quite happy with this amazing award because it comes from the audience. Audiences are everything to the film and benefit its impact campaign, as we need to spread the word about Sudan. It has been extraordinary - full houses at every screening. At the premiere, I was very emotional to see hundreds of people just watching our film.“
Creative Director and Writer Phil Cox said: “A year ago we had no film and a group of us were sitting on mattresses in Nairobi sharing one room, so to come here is just an incredible achievement and dream of world cinema. It shows what world cinema can do and that cinema is still fundamentally important, is a cinema of resistance and a cinema of sharing and acceptance in these difficult times.“
Ayin Media, a leading news organisation that pioneers in video documentaries and investigative journalism, and one of the few independent media houses still operating in Sudan, has supported the film and filmmakers from the beginning and serves as Executive Producer. Managing Editor Tom Rhodes said:
“For two years of senseless war, brave journalists and filmmakers including the directors of the film KHARTOUM have been telling critical stories about the impact of the war in Sudan. The Ayin News Network and Gisa Group are deeply proud of the filmmakers for having been honored with the prestigious Peace Film Prize and hope it inspires the continued support of the independent media in Sudan who are so vital to moving the country towards the peace it deserves.”
A Native Voice Films and Sudan Film Factory production in association with Light Echo Pictures, Ayin Network, Gisa Productions, XTR and BBC Storyville.
Khartoum is supported by funding from The Doha Film Institute, The World Cinema Fund, Qumra, Aflamuna, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, The UK Screen Fund, InMaat Foundation, DocuBOX and IDFA Bertha Foundation.