Sudanese filmmaker Suhaib Gasmelbari won the Variety Magazine Award for his film ‘Talking about Trees,’ also screened at the Gouna Film Festival’s Feature Documentary Competition this year.

 

An awards ceremony was held on Saturday at the Marina Open-Air Theatre attended by festival director Intishal El-Tamimi and a number of representatives from Variety Magazine.

 

Gasmelbari was born in 1979 in Sudan. He studied cinema at the University of Paris VIII and worked as an editor and camera operator, working with journalists in reports for channels like Al-Qarra and France 24.

 

He wrote and directed several short narrative films and documentaries. Gasmelbari’s 2017 documentary Sudan’s Forgotten Films was named the Arts and Culture Story of the Year at the 2018 FPA Media Awards.

 

‘Talking about Trees’ is his debut feature film. It received the Special Prize of the Jury at the Istanbul International Film Festival and the Glasshütte Original Documentary Award at the Panorama Audience Award at the 69th Berlinale.

 

The film reunites four Sudanese filmmaking friends in a restless attempt to revive their old dream of bringing back a cinema hall in Sudan.

 

The third edition of the GFF kicked off on Friday and runs till 27 September.