Talking About Trees

Suhaib Gasmelbari's 2019 documentary is about four elderly filmmakers in Sudan. All studied cinema abroad years ago and returned home; then production stopped and their films disappeared. Now they want to reopen an open-air cinema. The subject is bureaucracy. The four go from office to office seeking permission; nobody says no outright and no door opens either. The narrative gives that waiting with humour, and all four long ago stopped taking it seriously. Gasmelbari shot the film largely in secret. The archive of the Sudanese Film Group and excerpts from their old films sit inside the narrative. It screened in the Panorama section in Berlin and won both the documentary award and the audience prize. Who it's for: those who like African cinema and documentaries about film history. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a result; the film leaves it unclear whether the goal was reached.