1971-1980 Experimental Hussein Shariffe Short Film Sudan

Hussein Shariffe – The Dislocation of Amber (1975)

adminJune 22, 2022

1 1,100

Quote:
‘The Dislocation of Amber’ was filmed in the city of Suakin, a formerly flourishing port in Sudan, now in ruins. Its history is one of famine and opulence, devastation and progress, rich trade and damage, and colonialism. Shariffe used symbols to accentuate a sense of desertion and alienation hinted at in the title. This surreal masterpiece of Sudanese cinema features poems sung by the late Sudanese singer Abdel-Aziz Dawoud.

Hussein Shariffe (1934-2005) was one of the most renowned Sudanese artists. The painter and filmmaker graduated in Fine Arts from the Slade School of Art and from the National Film School in the UK. He oversaw the cinema section in Sudan’s Department of Culture in the 1970s where he began working on his first cinematographic projects as a director. In his films, Shariffe takes an experimental approach to the documentary form, capturing unique stories that focus on the socio-political and cultural context in Sudan as well as on the experience of exile.