A case of special celebration achieved by the movie "You Will Die in the Twentieth" by Sudanese director Amjad Abu Al-Ala, who presents his first experience in the field of feature films, after a series of successful artistic experiences, whether in the theater or documentaries, and the absence that lasted for more than 20 years for the Sudanese film, which opens The door to questions about the future of young talents and energies that can find a path to success, after Amjad Abu Al-Ala managed to achieve the difficult equation in obtaining financing for joint production, and provides a cinematic work from the heart of Sudanese reality.

On the phone and from Khartoum, we had the opportunity to speak with the Sudanese director Amjad Abu Al-Ala, who is preparing for the beginning of the new year, to return to Dubai, to present his first feature work to the UAE public, revealing a package of details and events that accompanied the birth of his successful movie.

Bravery

Initially, Abu Al-Ala expressed his great joy in obtaining his first feature film this number of international awards, starting with the Lion of the Future award that he won at the Venice Film Festival for the best first cinematic work, and the Golden El Gouna Star Award for the feature film competition for the first work, until the Tanit Award Golden in the Film Festival of Carthage in its last session, and other cinematic awards in France and India, and the director of work pointed out that «the first challenge was linked to finding mechanisms that drive the productive parties to support Sudan with his first experience in the field of cinema, in the absence of an artistic infrastructure It is clear in a country besieged by foreign sanctions, which led us to deliberately choose a number of producers who are good at dealing with such conditions who have successful cinematic experiences such as producer Hossam Alwan, who has two successful works, namely (Ali Mazza and Ibrahim), and (Zahrat Al-Sabbar), along with a producer A French and a Norwegian producer has previous experience in the field of Arabic film production. ”Abu Al-Ela added,“ Everyone had the right to feel unsure, especially in the matter of financing and the details of sending money before filming began, which prompted me to conduct eight months ago photo sessions for the participating actors and the film's clothes. And his environment The truth is, as a kind of reassurance to the producers who are venturing into making a movie in the midst of a regime that was ruling Sudan in a way that is no secret to anyone. ”

Wholesale challenges

On the circumstances of filming in the Al-Jazeera region south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and the difficulties encountered in choosing the movie stars, Abu Al-Ala pointed out that there are no film actors in Sudan, due to the absence of this industry for many years, which forced him to adopt performance experiences as a basic method for selecting new faces, saying «after Choosing new and veteran faces, we worked for a whole year on the issue of weekly exercises, which I concluded in the last month with discussion sessions, in which I drew on the expertise of the friend, the star Mahmoud Hamida, along with the acting coach, Professor Salwa Muhammad Ali, to get to know more broadly the technic relationship between Actor and Cinema ”Abu Al-Ala continues,“ After completing this mission we had to face the issue of the lack of photographic tools in Sudan, which compelled me to use the services of a prestigious French company in the field, and to ship up to four tons of lighting and imaging equipment, which I was suspended, for security reasons, for 10 days at Khartoum Airport, which compelled me to film the external scenes of the film first, except for the problems of entry visas for the Egyptian, French and Lebanese team, which delayed filming for four months, along with the problem of transferring the financing of the film and the issue of price change p. The dollar shelf and the difficulty of converting it in light of the US sanctions against Sudan during that period.

Emirati friendship

As for what was raised about the amendment of the film's scenario and the length of time required by the participation of the Emirati scenario, Youssef Ibrahim, the Sudanese director stopped at the relationship of his old friendship with the owner of "Dream", the first Emirati movie to be shown in cinemas in 2005, explaining, "We have been friends for more than 10 years." So it was easy for me to present to him the idea of ​​writing a script inspired by an anecdotal group, and we worked for two years on writing 11 copies of the scenario, after we presented these copies to a number of scenario development workshops in Jordan, France and South Africa, and we also presented them to dozens of friends From critics and practitioners Producers from France, Germany and a number of countries ».

"Goodbye Julia"

The Sudanese director Al-Emarat Al-Youm singled out his upcoming cinematic project, in which he addresses the production of a new Sudanese film entitled "An International Farewell" by director Mohamed Kordofani in an unexpected surprise explaining its reasons, saying, "Some may be bothered by my next steps in the production framework, but I I am convinced that I am required to contribute to advancing cinematic production in my country through my successful experience in the field of project development, and I believe that I want to present a Sudanese director who is confident in his ability to present a valuable cinematographic project that highlights the suffering of two women from the subject of (the secession of Sudan) », He also revealed a new film project Another is the "Khartoum dogs", whose idea was born during the director's experience of the revolutionary diaries in his country, and he was forced to cut off the process of editing his last film to participate in demonstrations with his country's youth in the streets and squares, in which he will address the burning of the revolution and the details of the Sudanese youth's success in continuing under the oppression.

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Tons of lighting and imaging equipment were suspended for 10 days for security reasons at Khartoum Airport.

I collaborated with Emirati scriptwriter Yusuf Ibrahim, and we worked for two years on writing the work.