Al-Sit
Ajyal Competition, Made in Qatar
Suzannah Mirghani / Short Narrative / Qatar, Sudan / 2020 / 20 min
In Arabic
Domestic Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
- Come back soon to see screening dates
Synopsis
In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa’s future. But can the young girl choose for herself? A compassionate story from Sudan about women—both powerless and powerful—exploring opposing ends of the social chain and how these roles might be changing in a modernizing world.
About the Directors
Suzannah Mirghani is a writer, researcher, and independent filmmaker. Mixed-race Sudanese and Russian, she is interested in stories about the complexity of identity. Suzannah is the writer, director, and producer of ‘Al-Sit’ (2020), which won 18 international awards, including three Academy Award qualifying prizes in 2021: Best of Fest at LA Shorts; Grand Prix at Tampere Film Festival; and Best Short Film at BronzeLens. Her latest short, ‘Virtual Voice’ (2021), had its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. Suzannah is working on her first feature, ‘Cotton Queen’, a magical realist tale set in the cotton fields of Sudan.
Credits
- Director
- Suzannah Mirghani
- Screenwriter
- Suzannah Mirghani
- Producer
- Eiman Mirghani, Suzannah Mirghani
- Editor
- Abdelrahim Kattab, Suzannah Mirghani
- Cinematographer
- Khalid Awad
- Sound
- Falah Hannoun
- Cast
- Mihad Murtada, Rabeha Mahmoud, Mohammed Magdi