Coming soon to a screen near you Football, film and freedom in Sudan "Marwa Zein has made an impressive documentary about the Sudanese women's football team, if only the national football association would recognise it as such. The players are neither allowed to represent their country at international level nor set up a domestic women's football league." (Rene Wildangel article on Qantara.de - also available in German + Arabic) More info to come – it's currently playing at film festivals around Europe after its premiere in February in Berlin, where it got very good reviews. It's Marwa Zein's first feature-length film. Some movie clips are in this report from the Berlin Film Festival: - www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGH7qyG_pI&t=1m19s
And this was the team in 2015 - The Challenge: Tackling taboos: Women's football in Sudan - https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/i...oos-women-football-sudan-150430070028439.html (Archived) Sara Edward, a main subject in the film, was also in that news report "Team captain Sara Edward says there are just two women's football teams in Sudan: 'Not everyone in Sudan approves of women's football'." (For comparison, the film 'cast' list is Sara Edward, Ernest Jubara, Nedal Fadlallah (Henda), Halah Zakariya, Coach Abdelkarim (Coach Abodu), Fatma Gaddal, Elham Balatoun)
Huge historic events in Khartoum in recent weeks – president Omar al-Bashir was removed as leader, after mass protests in which dozens of people died. Bashir ruled for 30 disastrous years in Sudan, including the Darfur genocide. The army is still in power. On the topic at hand, Khartoum Offside is continuing to tour cinemas. At the international women's film festival, 5 Germany WNT players met the director Marwa Zein. But still no ways that BigSoccerers can see it... Toronto Hot Docs is screening it this week, so @Robert Borden, if you're looking for the feel-good family comedy of the year.. well, this def isn't it - https://boxoffice.hotdocs.ca/websal...fo=89994~6052eab3-8904-4c72-8914-433e6b8b62f1 New review by AFRimages - English version / French (Archived) pictured: Khartoum Offside & director Marwa Zein (from Al-Ahram Hebdo, Egypt)
African Film Festival of Tarifa/Tangier Best documentary WINNER Khartoum Offside Well, we think it's true...! The Sudanese football film was chosen ahead of 6 other candidates. Festival's best fiction movie is the Ethiopian civil-war era drama Fig Tree. I guess you're in Seville not in Tarifa, @Tapas&Fútbol, but if you caused this, thanks for voting In Spanish, the festival posted the (subdued) opening of the movie: CLIP Jartum fuera de juego/Khartoum Offside - www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuV5AwgzwLo
The stars of the film are The Challenge, Al Tahadi football club You can... add them on Facebook Al Tahadi Women's Football - www.facebook.com/فريق-التحدي-لكرة-القدم-سيدات-528210104008478 Do you think that's... strange? This team is becoming internationally famous in a film, but go on their page and they're... real. They're doing stuff like any soccer club - training, learning first aid, doing football courses... Their games are mainly futsal these days, and they've got into a futsal tournament in the UAE, just this week. And of course, they post shareable content.. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=282932825705873 [/content] Khartoum Offside will soon be at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in England, and possibly the Cannes Film Festival, which gave the director Marwa Zein an artists' grant. This is a new interview with Zein - this was not an easy film for her to make! - https://womenandhollywood.com/hot-docs-2019-women-directors-meet-marwa-zein-khartoum-offside/ (Archived)
When are we going to see this film in the U.S.? Another beautiful film about hard-scrabble soccer around the world is "Pelada" by Gwendolyn Oxenham. {What a wonderful name is Gwendolyn Oxenham!)
The U.S. might get the film on the festival circuit, if it gets enough 'buzz'. It seems to be doing well in Europe atm. I'll post it here if I see any screenings. Gwendolyn Oxenham sounds really cool, and her book looks great too. I'll look for Pelada - need to get into watching movies again. One good soccer film (with almost no actual soccer) is Offside, about the women's stadium ban in Iran. It was filmed at a very important 2005 men's game, so the crowd scenes are a total one-off. I've just learnt of a recent film with a lot in common with Khartoum Offside... but the 2 directors don't want to be compared or in competition, so I'll give it its own thread sometime.
More from Al-Tahadi FC رمضان كريم وكل عام وانتم بخير محبي ومشجعي التحدي "Ramadan Kareem and happy new year fans and Challenge fans "
The situation in Sudan is a little more promising, although more protesters have lost their lives. The army and the protest leaders have reached an agreement that could lead to elections. A message on the Khartoum Offside page says, "We are still working to achieve free screenings in a new and free Sudan". More good stuff from the film's director here Short story https://www.thenational.ae/arts-cul...t-the-sudanese-women-s-football-team-1.888979 Long story http://www.andariya.com/post/A-Multilayered-Approach-to-Filmmaking-Interview-with-Marwa-Zein She says the main aim is to show it in Sudan and South Sudan: But in the meantime, there's one country that can't get enough: Khartoum Offside screenings/talks: 18 Sep 2019, Nuremberg, Germany 20 Sep 2019, Cologne, Afrika Film Festival 23 Sep 2019, Wuppertal, Afrika-Filmtagen 30 Sep 2019, Oldenburg, Afrika auf der Leinwand 20 Nov 2019, Stuttgart, Afrika Film Festival
Wow As political climate changes, Sudan plans women's football league - http://www.jordantimes.com/news/region/political-climate-changes-sudan-plans-womens-football-league (Archived) Was there ever any doubt...? Al-Tahadi FC posted a long video about it from the Sudanese news.
NOMM'D – at the Africa Movie Academy Awards, Khartoum Offside is one of 10 films nominated for best documentary, and is the first AMAA nominee from Sudan since 2015. As mentioned, there's another recent movie about women's football. Freedom Fields tells the story of three players in Libya after the revolution there. From the festival in Spain in April, there's an interview with Khartoum Offside's Marwa Zein and Freedom Fields director Naziha Arebi. More screenings of Khartoum Offside in some cities 4 Oct 2019, Stockholm, CinemAfrica 6 Oct 2019, Malmö Arab Film Festival 6 Oct 2019, Copenhagen, Cinemateket 13 Oct 2019, Lugano, Switzerland 7~13 Oct(?), Festival de Valdivia, Chile 20 Oct 2019, Karlsruhe, Pride Pictures
WINNAH – Khartoum Offside is Africa's best documentary ... or the voters are all football fans? That was at the Africa Movie Academy Awards 2019. Try to see all these films, of course, but the football one is officially the best one. Marwa Zein also won a 'best debut' prize at the Carthage festival in Tunisia. More screenings in Egypt, the Netherlands and 2020 in Scotland: 20-29 Nov 2019, Cairo International Film Festival // 21 Nov 2019, Amsterdam, IDFA // 11 Mar 2020, Glasgow, CCA (International Women's Day)
I tracked down Pelada, it's such a good film! Thank you so much for the recommendation. It's on a few streaming sites, and I too would recommend this movie to anyone with even a small interest in soccer. It's about why we love our game; maybe no film has ever expressed it better. http://www.pelada-movie.com/about/index.html Gwendolyn's kid supports Tanzania now.
A year on from Sudan's revolution, the country is recovering from dictatorship but it still has many problems. Women's football saw a renaissance that was unimaginable when Khartoum Offside was released – the first new national league began in September 2019. So, the story's ending is a fairly happy one, and even unlikelier than any of us getting to see that film. For now, I'll leave you with a link to the Sudanese Women's League, and with the eternal slogan of the Sudanese Revolution, حرية سلام وعدالة "freedom, peace and justice" ...and football ★ Africa Women's Football thread - 'We Are Champions' https://www.bigsoccer.com/posts/38485229 ^ That's the link (image: Mohatatou, cc-by-sa)