This is a rare screening of director Hussein Shariffe‘s short films The Dislocation of Amber and Tigers are Better Looking. Shariffe came to London as a young artist and film maker before returning to Sudan. The films will be introduced by his daughter Dr Eiman Hussein.

The Dislocation of Amber was filmed in the city of Suakin, a formerly flourishing port in Sudan, now in ruins. Its history is one of famine and opulence, devastation and progress, rich trade and damage, involving colonialism. Drawing from the metaphoric title, Shariffe used symbols to accentuate a sense of utter desertion and alienation. The surreal masterpiece of Sudanese cinema highlights poems sung by the late Sudanese singer Abdel-Aziz Dawoud.

Written and directed by Hussein Shariffe.

Sudan | 1975 | 32 min | Arabic with English subtitles.

Tigers are Better Looking is an adaptation of a short story by Jean Rhys. In the film, Shariffe directs his view towards exile in Europe, showing the wide disparity between North and South. The film contrasts two different civilisations, the homeland, Sudan, and the country of exile, Great Britain. Through poetic abstractions the director manages to portray the strong sense of exile and the longing for the homeland.

Directed by Hussein Shariffe.

Sudan | 1979 | 20 min | English

Hussein Shariffe (1934-2005) was one of the most renowned Sudanese artists. The painter and filmmaker graduated in Fine Arts from the Slade School of Art and from the National Film School in the UK. He oversaw the cinema section in Sudan’s Department of Culture in the 1970s where he began working on his first cinematographic projects as a director. In his films, Shariffe approaches the documentary with the experimental, capturing unique stories that focus on the socio-political and cultural context in Sudan as well as on the experience of exile.