Black Elephant Award
for the Best Sudanese Film
For the fourth year in a row, Sudan Independent Film Festival, and in honor of the soul of our great Sudanese filmmaker Hussein Shariffe, will award the best Sudanese film with the "Black Elephant Award".
The theme of the 6th edition of the festival is centered around the re-emergence of Sudanese Cinema
About the "Elephant"
The black elephant is hailed as the most sharp and powerful creature in its kingdom - A mighty sovereignty it assumes with humility. By nature the elephant carries itself with elegant peacefulness and calmness with a memory stronger than steel.
It treks slowly step by step, patiently migrating long distances in never forgotten paths.
Along its journey, the elephant paves the road with its feet and breaks obstacles and barriers in its way to open the path for itself and for the smaller creatures that may follow along behind it.
Constantly hunted for its valuable ivory, the elephant remains, withstanding the test of time and fighting against extinction.
Black Elephant Jury
Kasim Abid (Jury Leader)
Sudan Film Factory’s first masterclass instructor, who has been living in London since 1982, and has worked in filmmaking and TV production for more than 20 years, he directed and produced award-winning documentary films such as “Naji Al Ali: An Artist With a Vision”, “Surda Checkpoint” and “Life After The Fall. In 2004, he founded the independent Film and TV College in Baghdad and has recently directed two major film festivals in Iraq.
Stella Caetano
Writer and storyteller, Stella is one of the most distinguished and unique voices in expressing marginalized societies. Born in Khartoum in 1979 and graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, she has published many works including a number of articles in newspapers and digital platforms. She also participated, both regionally and globally, in several jury teams and conference committees in the field of creative writing.
Mahmoud Maysara Al-Sarraj
An actor and musician. He presented his first cinematography as an actor in 1993 with director Abdul Rahman Mohamad in “And Hope remains," a film which he also participated with composing its soundtrack, He acted in the film "You Will Die at Twenty" (2019) by director Amjad Abu Al-Ala. During two decades, he participated in acting and musical composition in television, theatre and radio in various numbers of works, including his role in the film "Al-Radhi", which won the Carthage bronze among other acting and music accolades In addition to his distinguished contribution to acting and music, Mahmoud Al-Sarraj continues his work in the pharmacology.
Suzannah Mirghani
An independent filmmaker from Sudan, interested in highlighting stories from the Arab region. Currently serves as the managing editor of the International and Regional Studies Center at Georgetown University. She obtained her PhD in Communications and Media Studies from the Eastern Mediterranean University. And she is the author: Art and Cultural Production in the Gulf - Cooperation Council (Routledge 2018) Target Markets: International Terrorism Meets Global Capitalism in the Mall (Transcript Press, 2017).
Dr. Fathi Osman
The author of "Beit El-Jack: A Dialogue with Ibrahim El-Salahi", graduated from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Art, and received a postgraduate diploma in coloring from the Academy of Arts in Budapest - Republic of Hungary. He also received a doctorate in art history from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest - The Republic of Hungary. He is also a writer and critic who worked for the Arab press in London between 1991 and 2003. He has two illustrated books with Grandir, the French Publishing House، he is currently the director of communications for Dal Group.