Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month

Talking about Trees
Beautifully shot documentary about four members of the 'Sudanese Film Club' who decide to revive an old cinema.
Documentary 2019 94 mins
Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari
Overview
Suliman and three further members of the 'Sudanese Film Club' have decided to revive an old cinema. They are united not only by their love of cinema and their passionate desire to restore old film stock and draw attention to Sudanese film history once more, but also by the fact that they have all enjoyed a film education in exile. Tirelessly, they try to get the cinema's owners on their side and make the place operational again, but repeatedly find themselves up against considerable resistance. In the meantime, they sit together and talk about the past - including their experiences of persecution and even torture as oppositional artists. They also read out old letters written while in exile and dream of a Sudan in which art and intellectual thought can be free. 'We are smarter than them, but not as strong,' is how they unanimously summarise their situation.
This beautifully shot feature debut, winner of the Berlinale Best Documentary Award, couldn’t be timelier for Sudan.

Related
Documentary

Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story
Documentary 2018 101 mins Director: Steve Sullivan
Frank Sidebottom was a pillar of alternative comedy of the late 80s/early 90s, and this charming documentary remembers the man behind the papier-mâché head.

Lawrence of Belgravia Lawrence of Belgravia
Documentary 2011 85 mins Director: Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly's stirring and acclaimed character study of enigmatic musician Lawrence (Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart).

My Nazi Legacy My Nazi Legacy
Documentary 2015 96 mins Director: David Evans
What if your father was a Nazi? This is the harrowing question raised in David Evans’ thought-provoking documentary.

I Am Samuel I Am Samuel
Documentary 2020 68 mins Director: Pete Murimi
Kenyan couple Samuel and Alex remain committed to each other despite the danger and hardship facing them in Peter Murimi’s moving documentary portrait.

Why We Fight Why We Fight
Documentary 2004 99 mins Director: Eugene Jarecki
An unflinching and award-winning look at the anatomy of American war-making.

The Pearl Button The Pearl Button
Documentary 2015 82 mins Director: Patricio Guzmán
Patricio Guzmán’s lyrical, illuminating follow-up to Nostalgia for the Light explores the fateful role played by water in Chile’s tragic history.
The Time Is New: Contemporary Arab Cinema

Beauty and the Dogs Beauty and the Dogs
Drama 2017 100 mins Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Kaouther Ben Hania’s bold and defiant fiction debut tells the story of a sexual assault in nine stunning single-take sequences.

200 Meters 200 Meters
Drama 2019 96 mins Director: Ameen Nayfeh
In Ameen Nayfeh’s accomplished feature debut, a Palestinian father navigates the complexities of life under occupation, where the wall separates him from his family.

As Above, So Below As Above, So Below
Documentary 2020 70 mins Director: Sarah Francis
A poetic reflection on sovereignty, perspective, space and futurisms.

Let's Talk Let's Talk
Documentary 2021 99 mins Director: Marianne Khoury
An exploration of identity, as told by the women in family of the great Egyptian filmmaker, Youssef Chahine.

Souad Souad
Drama 2021 102 mins Director: Ayten Amin
Double lives and double standards in Egypt, as a teenage girl contends with religion and social media to define herself.
New

Goodbye Solo Goodbye Solo
Comedy 2008 87 mins Director: Ramin Bahrani
The pairing of a Senegalese taxi driver and a grumbling old-timer in North Carolina is the basis for the latest insightful portrait of human behaviour from Ramin Bahrani.

Chop Shop Chop Shop
Drama 2007 81 mins Director: Ramin Bahrani
Hopeful and heartbreaking second feature from the director of Man Push Cart.

Catch the Fair One Catch the Fair One
Thriller 2021 86 mins Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka
Haunted by the disappearance of her younger sister two years prior, a former champion boxer (Kali Reis) leaves no stone unturned in her brutal search for answers.

Servants Servants
Drama 2020 81 mins Director: Ivan Ostrochovský
Ivan Ostrochovský’s stark drama about a seminary’s struggles for religious independence under Communist rule is both beautiful and brutal.

Tides Tides
Drama 2017 100 mins Director: Tupaq Felber
Four thirtysomethings find some much-needed time to reconnect in this beautifully observed and subtly insightful debut.

Rojo Rojo
Thriller 2018 105 mins Director: Benjamin Naishtat
Set in a pre-coup d’etat Argentina, successful lawyer Claudio (Darío Grandinetti, Wild Tales) leads a comfortable life – until an altercation in a restaurant and a split-second decision slowly unravel everything he has built up.