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Oufsaiyed Elkhortoum

Khartoum Offside
Forum 2019
© Marwa Zein
Among the protagonists of Marwa Zein's documentary, Sara is the one depicted with a remarkable entrepreneurial mind. And the group of young sporty women she belongs to is very much in need of business models to make their dream come true: putting together a Sudanese team for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. But besides lack of finances, there are quite a lot of other obstacles to overcome. Oufsaiyed Elkhortoum explores this feminist universe on the outskirts of Sudan's capital, where jokes are cracked as versatile as the ball is kicked into the goal. The young women, with and without veil play football, take their smartphones to bed: they are bond by street smarts and staggering energy which have brought them together as a sports team that doubles up as a collective survival strategy. Demonstrating considerable intimacy with these women, Oufsaiyed Elkhortoum reveals their daily lives in a city full of contradictions, showing how family traditions, politics and religion dare to dictate their life plans. Marwa Zein’s debut is at once cinematic proof of the power of female friendship and a Sudanese filmmaker’s concerted effort to rectify stereotypical perceptions of her country.
by Marwa Zein (Written and Directed by) Sudan / Norway / Denmark 2019 Arabic 75' Colour World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Written and Directed by Marwa Zein
Cinematography Marwa Zein
Editing Mohammed Emad Rizq
Music Tunde Jegede
Sound Design Sara Kaddouri
Sound Marcel Knuth
Producers Marwa Zein ORE Productions, Henrik Underbjerg Stray Dog Productions, Kopenhagen & Oslo

World Sales

ORE Productions

Produced by

ORE Productions

Stray Dog Productions

Photos

Marwa Zein

© Marwa Zein

Born in Saudi Arabia in 1985. She studied Film Directing. In 2009, she participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus. Since 2014, Marwa Zein has worked as a programmer for the Sudan Independent Film Festival in Khartoum. She lives in Sudan and Germany, and since 2018 has been studying at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Filmography

2008 Randa; 16 min. 2010 A Game; 7 min. 2014 Culture for All; 13 min. 2015 What a Lover Can Be?!; 10 min. 2017 One Week, Two Days; 20 min. · Fontainebleau; 5 min. 2019 Oufsaiyed Elkhortoum (Khartoum Offside)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019