A BRIEF ON CINEMA IN SUDAN  

             To begin with and in retrospect, it is generally known that silent films,such as the Charlie Chaplin comedies, were shown as early as 1928 in make-shift open-air cinema houses. During the early 30s, however, the number of cinema theatres constructed for the purpose of showing sound films were only 4 in major Sudan towns, the number gradually rose to 9 in the second half of the 30.
The aftermath of the 2nd world war brought about a spontaneous national cry for the up-ranking of Sudanese status quo in all fields of endeavour and as a result of this volition interest in cinema investment was heightened and eventually there came into being in the economic sphere a cinema company owned by public shares for the importation, distribution and exhibition of motion- pictures.
The company ascensively built and owned a number of cinema theatres either on its own or in partnership with local co-operative societies, thereby increasing the number of cinema to 14 and consequently increasing the number of spectators for their enlightenment and entertainment. The exhibited films were American-made features with Arabic sub-titles and Arabic films from Cairo.
In late 1949, the Sudan government recruited a South African with his 16 mm film equipment to establish a cine' photographic section of the department of Public Relations. He was assisted by two young Sudanese namely Kamal Mohammed Ibrahim as scriptwriter and Gadalla Gubara as assistant cine' photographer under training. The two Sudanese eventually received comprehensive film training abroad under the tutelage of
the British Colonial film unit, London. They returned to work on their own as a film team on the department of the expatriate cine' photographer, Ibrahim working as writer-director and Gubara as cinematographer.
The primary raison d' etre of the cine section which was called Sudan Film Unit was to produce short documentaries in the sub-standard gauge for the purpose of feeding the already-established fleet of mobile cinema vans intended to support the adult education programme designed for the benefit of the Sudanese cotton Farmers, the then country's major bread and butter winner. With the passage of time, however, the number of mobile cinema vans increased and showings of films were given of either locally produced documentaries or imported Arabic films intended to serve as " sugar-coatings" for the more serious instructional films on health, agriculture, animal husbandry, etc. Such films were exhibited by the mobile vans throughout the length and breadth of the country, penetrating at regular intervals into the remotest villages through inaccessible and unbeaten desert tracks, hazardous and sometime precipitous mountain roads, bringing information and entertainment to multitudes of Sudanese of different mental make-ups,cultural background and ethnic origins.
The film shows given were enthusiastically received as these appealed to the audio-visual senses of the rural masses, mainly due, admittedly, to a dire need for information at a time when both radio and press were lacking, coupled with then dominating and prevailing high illiteracy rate.
It is worth noting that some of the locally-produced documentaries received prizes and recognition in regional film festivals as over the years, a number of young film aspirants were sent for training in the arts and crafts of film making in Egypt, UK, and USA.
Film making in the Sudan as well as exhibition is governed by regulations set out by the cinematograph Board and its censorship committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Information. During the past few decades, there were few film producers from abroad shooting exteriors for their productions in the Sudan, notably Korda's London Films re-making " The Four Feathers"under a new title " Storm over the Nile'.
There also came to Sudan a number of cinematographers to shoot documentaries or Newsreels. Of late, however, the film activity turned into a bee-hive of video taping sponsored by private entrepreneurs.
Importation of feature films for exhibition was for sometime monopolized by the State Corporation for cinema, which distributed films on percentage basis to cinema houses. The corporation has since been dissolved and importation in now open to all interested parties involved in film exhibition.
Despite the colourful and successful beginning of film production in the short documentary field, cinema as an industry in the Sudan has lagged far behind all the audio-visual mass media.
For the past 15 years or so, there have been only 3 feature Sudanese films that, regrettably, failed to achieve worth-while material or artistic laurels, though only received passing encouraging comments.
 Plans for a humble film industry to emerge and develop exist in heads of few enthusiasts but as usual these are hampered by lack of funds for the procurement of raw stock and equipment as well as the narrow marketing outlet. The number of commercial cinemas in the Sudan today, is 68, some of which operate only seasonally.
Sudanese spectators today view Karate and Indian-made films and occasionally action-packed American films. There is not a single mobile van on the road today owned or operated publicly or privately. Sudan has participated in the celebration of the centenary of the international cinema. Shows were given of restored local documentaries as well as foreign feature films and documentaries provided by the foreign cultural and information missions in the Sudan. The event took place in mid May 1995.

***To be continued***  

UNDER CONSTRUCTION