A documentary by Hind Meddeb
Rippled with poetry, the film captures Sudan’s unyielding revolution in. Documenting the 2018-2019 period of protests, the Khartoum massacre and the transitional military council threats to street demonstrators. A dialogue between Meddeb and her friend in France structures the time passage, relaying fragments of the unseen events to her friend through voicemail; this is reminiscent of the film essay, her reflections of the atmosphere guide us through the revolutionary years. It is a film which shows us the revolution in moments that reflect the spirited resistance to the threat of its government. Some activists are targeted and the regime kills them, these deaths do not become numbers but their faces are painted on walls, as memories of the targeted leaders who stood in front and were not idolised figures who determined the voice and thoughts of others, the documentary shows the difference between a movement and a mass, these people are remembered as heroes, but their deaths motivated people to continue the movement, unlike government leaderships, where leaders die and parties are lost.
Documentary is a powerful storytelling form, notable in ‘Sudan, remember us’ which relinquishes documentary’s colonial roots, rejecting the observational gaze and becoming an active member of the people brigade. The film opens with a voicemail from 2023 as the war breaks out between two armed forces bestowing the activist film with a sense of living history. This is the 21st century documentary format, it is the family holiday polaroid camera, the news report camera, the artsy camera, the cctv camera, a blend of all these views at once, the documentary camera has evolved and gained the possibility of immediacy, of being active gaze. While shooting a documentary about refugees in France Meddeb, the people she was interviewing requested to capture what was happening in Sudan, their country. Showing us how stories still travel with people and documentary can preserve these stories and celebrating them and simultaneously protecting them from being discarded or forgotten. Her film drops pretence and does not attempt to direct the story.
In recent years more film directors are leaning into the ‘non-fiction’ genre, documentary is strengthened with their artistic visions yet the artistic creation seems detached from the grittiness, awkward and slowness of human life. Perhaps a truer form of documentary emerges, when the camera attempts to be apart of the event, it is forgotten sometimes, or ignored, it does not determine the next action and follows along without anticipation with absolute uncertainty.
In several scenes, the camera is often is peaking upwards, inwards and is passed around, not narrating what is happening or restructuring the reality but standing behind the uprising. Meddeb pastiches together the voices and poetry, in one scene where Meddeb with a group of activists hear gunshots while walking along a wide open street, they move towards an empty one storey building and wait from inside. Fearful and flustered the camera becomes still while they quietly murmur to each other and the camera peers out seeing a group of militia already passing.
Feminine revolutionary sensemaking
On a Saturday afternoon I was fired up feeling the power of women conspiring, describing the tactics used to obstruct the system. In the documentary, activists provided insight about the military forces that overthrew President Omar al-Bashir’s regime in a coup d’état. These forces contradictorily marching against the protesters highlighted the tense and violent relationship between a movement and centralised power. The documentary presents a revolutionary spirit and an example for the cynical who wondered what overturns dictatorships, or whether people are conscious and willing to lead themselves into a new governance structure. Shifting between conversations with activists to crowds and speeches, Meddeb weaves together a united force. A favourite scene of mine is when a woman describes occupying employment, going to work, sitting at her desk but refusing to work. To occupy the workplace with disobedience, not to strike but to impede any work taking place. An inspiring example of how protest can creep into the mundane spaces that seem removed from political chaos and society’s motto, ‘keep politics out of business’, her face lit the screen with such enthusiasm, emblematic of the creative force that leads to small victories.
The film is rejects traditional protagonist storytelling, women are significant figures, they mention Islam’s role in politicising and radicalising the Sudanese militia, using it to mollify and weaponise the troops against the people.
After the film there was a short q/a with an activist, they detailed the social movement’s energy and the struggles faced, the activist highlighted the continuous attacks from the armed forces. When it opened to questions there was a blunt question from an audience member asking ‘what can we do?’
Q/A forum ALFilm festival 2025
The audience member’s question seemed too general, too broad, too obvious, what can we do? To which the activist and many audience members explained the actions any concerned individual can do to support and help the Sudanese people in their battle with armed forces. Sparking a finger snapping chorus, the audience member repeated her question in what seemed defensive but determined to receive her answer, other audience members chimed in reminding her the simple ways citizens can voice their dissent and hold our politicians accountable when not besieged by war. It was a stark reminder about global solidarity and what is needed for conversations to be transformative, discussing with friends later, we realised public debate and cinema forums are places where we can hold such conversations but require intimacy and nuanced questions to ward off potential platform debates geared towards anger.
The film demonstrated the power of coming together, despite tension of gunshots and the oppressive threat, the people rejoiced in fighting together, a shared sense of purpose was emotionally good to see.