Feature Narrative Competition | Sudan, Egypt, France, Germany, Norway | Arabic with subtitles in English | 103 min
In a Sudanese village, Muzamel is born readily cursed by a Dervish prophecy, stating that he will die at the age of 20. Muzamel grows up amongst looks of sympathy that make him feel dead before his time, until Suliman—a cinematographer who was working in the city—returns to the village. Suliman’s old cinema projector offers Muzamel a window overlooking a whole new world. When his 20th birthday arrives, he is faced with a choice between accepting impending death and a bus to the world he is eager to experience.
Amjad Abu Alala is a Sudanese filmmaker and screenwriter who was born and raised in the UAE, where he studied media at the United Arab Emirates University. As a producer and director, he helmed numerous short films that participated in various festivals, including Coffee and Orange (2004), Feathers of the Birds (2005), and Teena (2009). His film Studio (2012) was supervised by Abbas Kiarostami at a workshop Kiarostami himself was conducting. Alala also won the Best Arabic Theatre Script Award from the Arab Authority for Apple Pies (2013). He is currently Head of the Programming Committee at the Sudan Independent Film Festival.
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