Talking About Trees

  • Talking About Trees
Genre : Biography
Type : Documentary
Original title : Banc d'attente | Waiting Bench (The) [Working Title]
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2019
Format : Feature
Running time : 90 (in minutes)
http://www.meteore-films.fr/distribution-films/Talking-about-trees-Gasmelbari

Four older Sudanese filmmakers with passion for film battle to bring cinema-going back to Sudan, not without resistance. Their'Sudanese Film Club' have decided to revive an old cinema, and again draw attention to Sudanese film history.

Ibrahim, Manar, Soliman and Eltayeb, four Sudanese filmmakers and close friends since more than 45 years, try to inspire the love of cinema in a wounded country. One of their last heroic acts is to resuscitate a cinema theatre in Khartoum.

"What do you want to do? Go back to Europe or sit on our bench with us?"
That is the dilemma I was presented by my Sudanese elders. The elders in question are the filmmakers who founded the Sudanese Film Group in 1968. They are now aged between 60 and 80 and journey throughout the country with a travelling cinema. They pass their knowledge on to young people and inspire the love of cinema in a ravaged land, despite only having a canvas screen that cannot withstand the desert storms. Even buying an inflatable screen becomes an epic undertaking, a new adventure to achieve one last glorious feat, their "heroic act" according to Ibrahim: to resuscitate a cinema in Khartoum, in a country where consumer society has completely outshone any cultural life.

A film by Suhaib Gasmelbari

Sudan / Chad / France / Germany / Qatar, 2019, Documentary, 90 min. DCP · Colour, in Arabic / English /Russian

Stars: Suleiman Ibrahim, Ibrahim Shaddad, Manar Al-Hilo, Eltayeb Mahdi and Hana Abdelrahman Suliman (Sudanese Film Group, SFG)

First feature length documentary



"What kind of times are these, when
To talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?"

― Bertolt Brecht

Director's note
The story of The Waiting Bench [Talking About Trees] is that of four filmmakers: Ibrahim, Soliman, Manar and Altayeb, all members of the Sudanese Film Group. This is the tale of their 42-year struggle to make films and the tireless hope that unites them forever. I will tell the story of struggle, passion and a gang of crafty devils with a fine sense of humour. Through their daily lives, their ambition to reopen a cinema, the memory of their disappointed dreams, what matters most to them is cinema and independence to Sudanese people.
Suhaib Gasmelbari

Genre: Art / Music / Culture
Genre: Human Interest / Social Issues
Genre: Politics / Society
Country: France | Sudan | Chad | Germany | Qatar
Language: Arabic
Release Date: 18 December 2019 (France)

Producer: Marie Balducchi
Executive Producer: Marie Balducchi
Co-producers: Melanie Andernach, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Benjamin Delboy, Jeremy Delpon

Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari
Writer: Suhaib Gasmelbari
Camera: Suhaib Gasmelbari
Editing: Nelly Quettier, Gladys Joujou
Sound: ElSadig Kamal, Katharina Von Schroeder
Sound Editing: Jean Mallet
Re-recording mixer (Mix): Jean-Guy Véran
Colorists: Herbert Posch, Marine Lepoutre
Assistant Director: Hana Abdelrahman Suliman
Production Manager: Marie-Frederique Lauriot-dit-Prevost

Participants:
Ibrahim Shaddad,
Manar Al-Hilo,
Eltayeb Mahdi,
Suliman Ibrahim
Hana Abdelrahman Suliman (Sudanese Film Group, SFG)

Production
Marie Balducchi (Agat Films & CieFrance)

Co-production
Mahamat Saleh Haroun (GO​Ï​-GO​Ï​ Productions, N'Djaména)
Melanie Andernach (MADE IN GERMANY Filmproduktion, Köln)
Vidéo de Poche (France)
Doha Film Fund (Qatar)

In association with
Mahadi Al Tayeb (Sudanese Film Group, Khartoum)

With the support of
Aide aux cinémas du monde
Centre National du cinéma et de l'image animée
IDFA Bertha Fund Europe
IDFA Bertha Fund
La Région Ile-de-France
World Cinema Fund (WCF, Berlin): 30.000 €, in Nov 2015 /// German WCF Partner: tbc
Film und Medienstiftung NRW
Arab Fund for Arts and Culture
Doha Film Institute
SANAD Development Grant
Venice Production Bridge

World sales:
Wide House (Anais Clanet / ac(@)widehouse.org / T: +33 683221806)

Contact
Agat Films & Cie, Marie Balducchi

Selected for
IDFA Bertha Fund 2016 (Project)
IDFA Bertha Fund 2015 (Project)
IDFA Forum 2015 (Project)
IDFA Forum category: Round Table (Project)
www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=8a7f1854-da5b-4cbb-8d90-04cb55b18639&tab=jvf


2019 | El Gouna International Film Festival 2019
* Nominee: Golden Star - Feature Documentary Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)

2019 | Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival
* Nominee: Golden Apricot - Feature Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)

2019 | Hamptons International Film Festival
* Nominee: Golden Starfish Award - Documentary Feature (Suhaib Gasmelbari)

2019 |Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey
* Winner: FIPRESCI Prize - International Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
"For the very elegant and bitter story of the last Don Quixotes of cinema."
Winner: Special Prize of the Jury - International Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
"Sometimes the failures are so great that hope has to grow. Times when'talking about trees is almost a crime because it implies silence about so many horrors!'"
* Nominee: Golden Tulip - International Competition (Suhaib Gasmelbari)

2019 | Millennium Docs Against Gravity
* Nominee: Grand Prix Bank Millenium Award (Suhaib Gasmelbari)

2019 | Berlin International Film Festival
* Winner: Glasshütte Original Documentary Award (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
* Winner: Panorama Audience Award - Documentary Film (Suhaib Gasmelbari)
www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/2019/02_programm_2019/02_Filmdatenblatt_2019_201918539.html

__________

DE



Suliman und drei weitere Mitglieder des Sudanesischen Filmclubs haben sich vorgenommen, ein altes Kino wiederzubeleben. Sie eint nicht nur ihre Liebe zum Kino und der leidenschaftliche Wunsch, alte Filmbestände zu restaurieren und der sudanesischen Filmgeschichte neue Aufmerksamkeit zu verschaffen, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass sie alle im Exil eine Filmausbildung genossen haben. Unermüdlich versuchen sie, die Kinobesitzer auf ihre Seite zu bekommen und das Kino bespielbar zu machen, kämpfen dabei aber immer wieder gegen Widerstände. Zwischendurch sitzen sie zusammen und reden über die Vergangenheit, über Verfolgung als oppositionelle Künstler und über Folter, lesen sich alte Briefe aus dem Exil vor und träumen von einem Sudan, in dem die Kunst und das Denken frei sein können. „Wir sind schlauer als sie, aber nicht so stark", fassen sie einhellig ihre Situation zusammen. In diesen lakonischen Momenten spürt man Freundschaft, Nähe und ideologische Verbundenheit im Kampf für gemeinsame Ideale.
Suhaib Gasmelbari stellt die Geschichte des sudanesischen Kinos ins Zentrum seines Films und wirft dabei zugleich auch ein Licht auf die momentane Situation in dem von Krisen geschüttelten Land.

von
Suhaib Gasmelbari

Frankreich / Sudan / Deutschland / Tschad / Katar 2019

Arabisch, Englisch, Russisch

Dokumentarische Form
93' · Farbe

Regie, Buch
Suhaib Gasmelbari

Kamera
Suhaib Gasmelbari

Montage
Nelly Quettier, Gladys Joujou

Sound Design
Jean Mallet, Jean-Guy Veran

Ton
Elsadig Kamal, Katharina von Schroeder

Regieassistenz
Hana Abdelrahman Suliman

Production Manager
Marie-Frederique Lauriot-dit-Prevost

Produzent
Marie Balducchi

Executive Producer
Marie Balducchi

Co-Produzent
Melanie Andernach, Mahamat Saleh Haroun

Co-Produktion
Made in Germany Filmproduktion, Köln
Goï Goï Productions, N'Djaména


2019 | Berlinale
* Weltpremiere
* Glasshütte Original Documentary Award)
* Audience Award
www.berlinale.de/de/archiv/jahresarchive/2019/02_programm_2019/02_Filmdatenblatt_2019_201918539.html

Articles

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