SUDAN, REMEMBER US and THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! win at Doha’s Ajyal Film Festival
Hind Meddeb’s SUDAN, REMEMBER US and Palestinian director Laila Abbas’ latest feature THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! won the Ajyal Audience Award and the Bader Best Feature Film Award, respectively, at the closing ceremony of this year’s Ajyal Film Festival in Doha, Qatar. The festival ran from the 16th to the 23rd of November.
SUDAN, REMEMBER US is a political documentary by journalist and award-winning director Hind Meddeb that follows the stories of five young Sudanese activists as they struggle to overthrow the country’s military regime in the tumultuous years leading up to the Sudanese Civil War and their subsequent exile.
The film held its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival followed by a North American premiere at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival.
SUDAN, REMEMBER US is produced by Abel Nahmias of Echo Films, Blue Train Films’ Michel Zana and Alice Ormières, and My Way’s Tao Guiga. It is also edited by Gladys Joujou, known for her work on acclaimed projects like THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, ALEXANDER, and BYE BYE TIBERIAS. Paris-based Dulac Distribution is handling the worldwide sales for this captivating documentary while MAD Distribution is in charge of its distribution in the MENA region.
Laila Abbas’ THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! is a tale about the intricacies of sisterhood and family, which tackles the challenges of remittance laws. Upon discovering that their father left behind a substantial sum of money, two sisters devise an elaborate scheme to abscond with the funds before their brother — who is legally entitled to half the inheritance — learns of their father’s death.
Notably, THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! is the last film that was shot in the West Bank, before the events of the ongoing genocide.
The film recently held its MENA premiere at the seventh El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, where it won the Golden Star for Best Arab Film. It also held its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and netted a Silver Alexander Award for Best Director at Greece’s Thessaloniki Film Festival.
With MAD World handling the film’s worldwide sales and distribution rights, THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US! is a joint production between Germany and Palestine that is written and directed by Laila Abbas. Starring Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, and Kamel El Basha; the film is co-produced by Founder and Artistic Director of Palestine Cinema Days Hanna Atallah and Ronza Kamel through their company August Films and Roshanak Behesht Nedjad through her Berlin-based production outfit, In Good Company Films.
