Sudan Selects "You Will Die at Twenty" as International Feature Film Race Oscar Entry
Sudan has entered the Academy Awards race with the selection of "You Will Die at Twenty" by Amjad Abu Alala (Die Gesellschaft DGS) as the country’s first Best International Feature Film submission for the 2021 Academy Awards. The Filmstiftung supported the film’s postproduction with 25,000 Euros. "You Will Die at Twenty" is the third Filmstiftung-backed production to enter the race for the international Oscar.
Premiering at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival’s parallel section Venice Days (Le Giornate degli Autori) to positive reviews hailing the film’s themes, direction and performances, "You Will Die at Twenty" nabbed the Lion of the Future (Luigi De Laurentiis) for Best First Feature, becoming the first Sudanese film to ever do so. The film went on to win over 20 awards at international film festivals worldwide and is still enjoying a healthy festival circuit run.
„Exile“ by Visar Morina (Komplizen Film) and „Never Gonna Snow Again“ by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert (Match Factory Productions, Lava Films) are two Filmstiftung-backed international co-productions that have already been submitted to the competition for the international Oscar – for Kosovo and Poland, respectively. Visar Morina received the German Screenplay Award for „Exile“’s screenplay, his film also won the Grand Prix at the Sarajevo Film Festival last August. „Never Gonna Snow Again“ recently celebrated its world premiere in the Competition of the 77th Venice Film Festival in September.
„You Will Die at Twenty“
Muzamel is the longed-for child of deeply religious parents. They live in a village on the Nile. His ritual blessing is interrupted by dervishes. This gives rise to the curse that he will di on his 20th birthday. Everybody in the family, school and mosque believed that this will happen. Jaiballah and Naiema are temporary companions, as is the old roughneck Suleiman who has returned from Khartoum. Finally, Muzamel is standing in front of his grave. He must decide for himself: surrender to the curse, or can he escape it? Amjad Abu Alala directed from a screenplay by Youssef Ibrahim. Mustafa Shehata and Islam Mubarak can be seen in the leads. The Cologne-based production house Die Gesellschaft DGS produced with andolfi (FR), DUOFilm (NOR) and Transit Films (EGY) in co-production with Station Films (SDN) and Film Clinik (EGY).