Reflective Encounters

“In Suzannah Mirghani’s slick Al-Sit, named for a charismatic grandmother (Rabeha Mohammed Mahmoud) of betrothed Nafisa (Mihad Murtada), family ties and tradition take on a spiritual essence in a Sudanese village. Mirghani focusses early on the cotton farming that keeps the community moving, and contrasts it with Nafisa’s fiancee Nadir (Mohammed Magdi Hassan), who arrives there wearing a polyester suit, ‘glittering like an earthworm’ as Al-Sit puts it.

Though Nadir has family roots in the village, he is a rich Dubai businessman. Does his return to claim his bride signal a success for the village, or just a new form of colonialism? As Al-Sit discusses the wedding with Nadir, Nafisa peers from behind a wall, vital decisions on her life being made without her input. Spectacular naturally lit coverage of the wedding ceremony at night captures the village with veracity, but as Mirghani moves easily in and out of Nafisa’s perspective, she draws a line between the role played by Al-Sit and her granddaughter’s new duties. Intensely bright colours, and free-flowing dialogue, Al-Sit explores what spaces can be a woman’s own in Sudan, and where Nafisa can find her agency.”

— Ben Flanagan