The core of Rigid Time is built upon the fertile period of Sudanese cinema spanning from mid 1970s to late 1980s, with works by Hussein Shariffe, Eltayeb Mahdi and Ibrahim Shaddad. This period culminated in the founding of the Sudan Film Group (SFG) in April, 1989. SFG would prove to be short lived as only two months after its foundation, a military coup led by Omar al-Bashir in June, 1989, ushered in a fundamentalist Islamist regime that stifled Sudanese culture, symbolised by the closure of its cinemas, and ignited decades of civil war, genocide, and systemic repression.

The tremors of that era continue to destabilise the nation today. The current conflict, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is the violent culmination of those long-standing tensions, once again leaving the Sudanese people trapped in the devastating wake of a crisis decades in the making.

The title Rigid Time draws inspiration from the metaphysical studies of the Arab scholar Ibn Arabi, exploring the paradoxical concept of time as a fluid dimension and space as time frozen in place. The films of Shariffe, Mahdi and Shaddad are put in dialogue with contemporary filmmakers and artists, showcasing a cinematic language forged in the face of political disillusionment, one that finds movement even when history seeks to stand still.

Curated by Rund Alarabi & Vincent Stroep

In collaboration with Art Cinema OFFoff / Kunsthal Gent
In the context of de Vrijdagavonden