Olivia Campanile (she/they) is a final year Comparative Literature/Theatre Studies student at the University of Glasgow on a work placement in the Thinking Culture programme. They are currently working on their dissertation on annotations of Shakespeare plays and are President of the Glasgow University Shakespeare Society. Their other interests include theatre production and administration, and colourful eyeliner.
The Thinking Culture event held on the 29th of January was a wonderful experience. Held in the ARC, the event was led by the curator of the exhibition and event Ulmoda Ibrahim who is pursuing a PhD in the history and current landscape of Sudanese cinema. She provided zines for the attendees that detailed the people behind the five different films screened during the evening, perfectly matched up to the point of the screenings – screenshots of the different digital creators’ Instagram pages.
The power of Instagram specifically was on show, but the emphasis was on how the digital space has been utilized by Sudanese creatives. These creatives have used film in these digital spaces to explore the war in Sudan and share information about the revolution in an accessible way.
Ibrahim introduced the event, sharing that we would watch first the 2020 documentary film My Sister, Sara by Sarra Idris & Amin Elhassan that hosts a conversation between Elhassan and his sister, the activist Sara Elhassan as they reflect on online activism and Sudan during the 2018/19 Sudanese revolution, followed by four shorter pieces by various Sudanese artists. Each work did something a little different to explore the same themes of what it feels like to be Sudanese in the light of the war. All were moving pieces, but especially My Sister, Sara and Moving With Honour. I had been aware of the war in Sudan through social media as it was beginning, but I had never been able to hear stories from Sudanese people in this way before. This incredible opportunity was compounded by the discussion that was held over Zoom afterwards with some of the creatives behind My Sister, Sara – directors Sarra Idris and Amin Elhassan and filmmaker Issraa Elkogali Haggstrom – and the filmmaker of one of the shorts, Mohamed Babikr.
This discussion felt to me emblematic of why events like these are so necessary. Everyone in attendance in Glasgow was able to hear Ibrahim ask questions to the filmmakers about their experience of distance and how it has affected their relationship with their Sudanese culture, and how their creative work has impacted that relationship as well. Members of the audience were also able to ask a few questions, and one woman in particular shared that she was Sudanese, had been living in Glasgow, and had been following Sara Elhassan’s work online for some time. She was there as a representative of SWAG (Sudan Women Action Group), and spoke beautifully about what it meant to her to be at an event highlighting Sudanese work; talking about the impact of the war on the Sudanese people, in Glasgow.
The evening highlighted perfectly the importance of the easily accessible and wide-ranging events that the Thinking Culture programme offers. Ibrahim was able to share her expertise in curating the exhibition and leading the discussion, and the audience was able to learn from her and the creatives while viewing art that they may not have had a chance to otherwise witness. As the contributors discussed how social media has helped those living away from their home to minimise the distance they feel from their culture, we all felt a little closer to those around us than we did before.
