Screening the week of Thanksgiving, this series is a selection of the best short films from Mizna’s 2021 Arab Film Festival. Including Darine Hotait’s Tallahassee, the audience award winner for best short film, these fan favorites each demonstrate the complexity of family and belonging, and they explore the importance of communities, both made and inherited.
This shorts program is only available in the United States.
In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa's future. But can Nafisa choose for herself?
About the filmmaker
Suzannah Mirghani is a writer, researcher, and independent filmmaker. She is a media studies and museum studies graduate. Mixed-race Sudanese and Russian, she is interested in stories about the complexity of identity. Mirghani is the writer, director, and producer of Al-Sit (2020, Sudan/Qatar), which won 18 international awards, including three Academy Award qualifying prizes in 2021: Best of Fest at LA Shorts; Grand Prix at Tampere Film Festival; and Best Short Film at BronzeLens. Other awards include the Canal+ Award at Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival; Best Short Film at Zanzibar Film Festival; and Jury Award at Busan Short Film Festival. Her latest short is the experimental Virtual Voice (2021), which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Suzannah is working on her first feature Cotton Queen, a magical realist tale set in the cotton fields of Sudan.
- Year2020
- Runtime20 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountrySudan, Qatar
- DirectorSuzannah Mirghani
- ScreenwriterSuzannah Mirghani
- ProducerSuzannah Mirghani, Eiman Mirghani
- CastMihad Murtada, Rabiha Mohammed Mahmoud, Mohammed Magdi, Haram Bashir, Alsir Mahjoub
- CinematographerKhalid Awad
- EditorAbdelrahim Kattab, Suzannah Mirghani
Screening the week of Thanksgiving, this series is a selection of the best short films from Mizna’s 2021 Arab Film Festival. Including Darine Hotait’s Tallahassee, the audience award winner for best short film, these fan favorites each demonstrate the complexity of family and belonging, and they explore the importance of communities, both made and inherited.
This shorts program is only available in the United States.
In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa's future. But can Nafisa choose for herself?
About the filmmaker
Suzannah Mirghani is a writer, researcher, and independent filmmaker. She is a media studies and museum studies graduate. Mixed-race Sudanese and Russian, she is interested in stories about the complexity of identity. Mirghani is the writer, director, and producer of Al-Sit (2020, Sudan/Qatar), which won 18 international awards, including three Academy Award qualifying prizes in 2021: Best of Fest at LA Shorts; Grand Prix at Tampere Film Festival; and Best Short Film at BronzeLens. Other awards include the Canal+ Award at Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival; Best Short Film at Zanzibar Film Festival; and Jury Award at Busan Short Film Festival. Her latest short is the experimental Virtual Voice (2021), which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Suzannah is working on her first feature Cotton Queen, a magical realist tale set in the cotton fields of Sudan.
- Year2020
- Runtime20 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountrySudan, Qatar
- DirectorSuzannah Mirghani
- ScreenwriterSuzannah Mirghani
- ProducerSuzannah Mirghani, Eiman Mirghani
- CastMihad Murtada, Rabiha Mohammed Mahmoud, Mohammed Magdi, Haram Bashir, Alsir Mahjoub
- CinematographerKhalid Awad
- EditorAbdelrahim Kattab, Suzannah Mirghani