Over the past few years, the Western world’s media cycle has been particularly fixated on the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, leaving little space to call attention to the increasingly complicated internal affairs of Sudan. Between the 2019 overthrow of a dictator that ruled for thirty years, a brutal military coup shortly after, and the outbreak of a devastating civil war in 2023, Sudan’s circumstances have compelled the UN to declare the East African nation’s crises among the planet’s most critical, yet much of the Western news and those who consume it still have little clue about what is happening there.

For her latest work, Sudan, Remember Us, journalist and documentarian Hind Meddeb brings audiences close to some of the formative junctures that initiated the troubles Sudan faces today. Taking her camera to the streets of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, Meddeb concentrates on the youthful spirits at the epicenter of the nation’s evolving situation, filming between 2019 and 2023 to bring a fully developed impression of the nation’s descent into upheaval to the silver screen through the experiences of its young subjects.

Influenced by her own roots in the Afro-Arab world, the journey of Sudan, Remember Us begins with Meddeb heading to Khartoum in 2019 to document the enormous peaceful protests that form in the city following the military ousting of Omar al-Bashir. Thousands gather on the streets, primarily young people, who want to see the nation transformed into a citizens’ government rather than another military dictatorship. The documentary places great emphasis on the forms of art through which the young folks express their discontent and longing for change: poems, murals, food, music, and dance, all supporting the common goal of a peaceful transition to democratic rule in Sudan. Drawn together by their shared purpose, the protestors find community in one another, along with resonant grounds upon which to share ideas and creative impulses. While Meddeb embeds herself in this new flourishing society of resistance, both her presence and camera never feel intrusive, moving from subject to subject with genuine curiosity and impulsion to platform the cries of their struggle and the optimism they feel for Sudan’s destiny.

Sudan, Remember Us intensely captures the drastic change that occurs on the streets of Sudan’s capital in June 2019 on the last night of Ramadan, when the Khartoum Massacre was carried out by the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (the two powers now embroiled in the country’s ongoing civil war) against the mass of protestors. Utilizing cell phone footage recorded by both sides of the dispute, the documentary illustrates the fierce dismantling of the peaceful resistance, which saw the country’s communication lines to the outside world destroyed, thousands subjected to violent mistreatment by the justice system, and worse, hundreds murdered, bodies thrown into the Nile River. Through this extreme shift, the director captures the life force being virtually drained from the city by its oppressors, leaving the Khartoum that remains a bombed-out, desolate shell of the vibrant, hopeful place it once was. As the dust settles and the military regains control of the country, Meddeb returns to film in 2021 and 2023, once again focusing her camera’s attention on the (bruised and battered) perseverance of the young resistance figures who continue to fight for positive change and civil liberties.

While the work stylistically makes few attempts to operate outside of customary standards for documentary cinema, Sudan, Remember Us steps away from convention in its emphasis on not only the accounts of young people, but specifically those of young women, a largely marginalized portion of the Sudanese population, particularly under the country’s historically Islamic spheres of power. Meddeb’s camera seems especially fascinated by the women it concentrates on and, more importantly, the empowerment they receive from one another and the city’s resistance movement as a whole. The director’s accentuation of women as mouthpieces for Sudan’s civil protests aligns with the global record of resistance: iconic uprisings like the Russian and French Revolutions were largely ignited by female perspectives, despite the widespread erasure of their efforts from most history books.

Fundamentally, Sudan, Remember Us is a gripping and meaningful documentary that sheds light on one of the world’s most violent conflicts. Framed against Sudan’s increasingly repressive backdrop of military infighting, Meddeb chooses to underscore the country’s most optimistic and tight-knit populations: its youth. The director’s efforts and final product function powerfully to communicate the struggles of Sudan to the outside world, which continues to ignore the plight of a nation captivating at its core but fractured by the forces that continue to degrade its infrastructure and the lives of its citizens.

4/5

‘Sudan, Remember Us’ world premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori section. The film will begin its U.S. theatrical release on Friday, August 8, courtesy of distributor Watermelon Pictures. Click here to find showtimes near you.

‘Sudan, Remember Us’ Review: Hind Meddeb Platforms the Poetry, Music, and Youthful Spirit That Motivate the Future of a War-Torn Nation

4/5

‘Diciannove’ Review: A Colorful, Kinetic, and Molto Italiano Coming-Of-Age Tale