The award, supported by a private donor and valued at 2,500 euros, is presented to one of the newly selected projects in Safe Harbour, a newly launched market initiative designed to support early-stage filmmakers who are at risk, stateless, or have experienced displacement and limited access to professional networks and funding opportunities.
The film follows Noura and her sister Duha as they flee the war in Sudan and attempt to rebuild their lives in Rwanda, reflecting on the meanings of home and safety. Parts of Hidden Journey were filmed in Sudan during their escape.
“Some of the scenes were shot in Sudan during the war, while we were leaving. I know it sounds crazy, but I felt I had to do it,” Adil told Ahram Online.
After losing both their parents to illness, Noura and Duha found themselves caught in the earliest and most violent clashes of the 15 April 2023 war in Khartoum. Trapped in their neighbourhood near the military headquarters, they were forced to flee with their neighbours, embarking on an uncertain journey through rural Sudan.
After months of displacement, including time spent in their family home in Kassala, the sisters eventually crossed into East Africa. Today, they are based in Kigali, working together to tell their story through the footage and diaries they recorded along the way.
As an emerging filmmaker, Adil created a short version of Hidden Journey to showcase her vision, and it won one of the 2025 spring grants from Doha Film Institute. “I needed to make it to convince potential funders of my ability to bring the feature-length project to life,” said Adil.
The recognition of Hidden Journey, produced by Weika Production Ltd (Sudan), highlights the increasing international visibility of Sudanese cinema and reflects a broader shift within global film industry platforms towards nurturing personal, risk-taking narratives emerging from the Global South.
Developed in collaboration with the International Emerging Film Talent Fund (IEFTF) and supported by Creative Europe MEDIA 360, Safe Harbour made its pilot debut this year at CineMart, featuring four early-stage projects by writers, directors, and artists from politically and socially vulnerable contexts.
The selection process followed extensive global outreach, research and in-depth interviews with more than 30 filmmakers, underscoring IFFR Pro’s growing commitment to inclusivity and support for underrepresented voices.
The selected projects included the feature documentary Shall We Meet Again? by Palestinian filmmakers Amjad Sokkar and Woroud Alqassas from Gaza, produced by Hend Bakr of Dessi Films (Egypt); Last Trip by Syrian filmmaker Ziad Kalthoum, a co-production between Germany, France, and Poland; and The Beer Girl in Yangon by Sein Lyan Tun from Myanmar, a co-production involving Indonesia, France, Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines.
The new initiative aligns with IFFR’s commitment to the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) and complements the Displacement Film Fund (DFF), launched by Cate Blanchett at IFFR 2025, with IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund as management partner. DFF was established to champion and fund the work of displaced filmmakers or those experienced in telling authentic stories about displacement.
The IFFR Pro Awards celebrate outstanding projects selected across the industry programme sections, such as CineMart, Darkroom, Lightroom, and Safe Harbour, recognizing bold artistic vision, innovation, and international collaboration at different stages of filmmaking.
This year’s selection included 21 CineMart projects, 10 work-in-progress projects in Darkroom, nine immersive media projects in the newly launched Lightroom platform, and the four Safe Harbour projects.
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