Held as part of the monthly contemporary Arab cinema program, short film Al-Sit, by director Suzannah Mirghani, shall screen at Warehouse421, within the events of As We Gaze Upon Her exhibition (October 16^th - November 20^th). This marks a comeback for the real life, actual screenings of the program after a 2-season pause. The film is slated to screen on November 17^th.
 
As We Gaze Upon Her comes at the end of the pilot version of Warehouse421’s Curatorial Development Exhibition program, in partnership with the Bombay Institute of Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR). The exhibition attempts to expand the notion of ‘woman’, often constrained by social, cultural, and existential insecurities.
 
In a cotton-plantation in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman who lives abroad. However, Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa’s future. Will Nafisa be able to choose for herself?
 
Recently, the film was screened at Carthage Film Festival (JCC), and Sharjah International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFF). The film has also received over 20 significant awards, including Best Director at Beirut International Women Film Festival, Best Short Film and Chairman's award at Zanzibar International Film Festival, Best short film at Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts where the judge panel voted unanimously to award it Best Short Film, as well as Audience Choice Award, and the Jury Award for Most Promising Filmmaker for the film’s director at Toronto Arab Film Festival.  Moreover, the film snatched the Grand Prix at the 51^st edition of the Oscar-qualifying Tampere Film Festival; two awards at Malmo Arab Film Festival, Sweden; Best Script award and Special Mention at Huesca International Film Festival, Spain; Special Jury award at Busan International Short Film Festival, Korea, and the Award for Excellence in Arab Filmmaking at The European Independent Film Festival, France.
 
Furthermore, it nabbed the Canal+/Cine+ Award, which was presented by the French channel Canal Plus Cinema within the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, where the film landed its international premiere, and it had its world premiere at the latest edition of the Ajyal Film Festival in Qatar.
 
Al-Sit is written and directed by Suzannah Mirghani, who co-produced it along with Eiman Mirghani, and stars Mihad Murtada, Rabeha Mohammed, Mohammed Magdi and Haram Basher. The film is distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions and has previously received a development workshop and a production grant from Doha Film Institute, as well as a design grant from VCUarts Qatar.
 
Suzannah Mirghani is a writer, researcher, and a passionate independent filmmaker with a special interest in highlighting stories from the Arab world. She is a Media Studies and Museum Studies graduate, and the author and editor of several academic books and articles. Being of multicultural (Sudanese and Russian) backgrounds, Suzannah is interested in stories that examine the complexity of identity. She has under her belt a number of short films that she wrote, directed and produced, including Hind’s Dream (2014), Caravan (2016), and Al-Sit (2020).