Sudanese filmmaker Hajooj Kuka brought his film 'Beats of the Antonov' to the Barbican this weekend for its UK premiere as part of the 19th Human Rights Festival in London.
What followed its introduction, was a film that celebrated a cultural African identity that has been disputed and denied over the years. It was a film full of life from beginning to end, with original songs, dance, music and even wrestling, celebrating the energy and life of the Blue Nile and Nuba mountain tribes.
Hajooj shared with us that he didn't want the film to be about war, or about the conflict. He felt that to tell the story of the Blue Nile and Nuba tribes he needed to show who they were as people and that could not be achieved through focusing on war with Khartoum, although we do get to see some rather chaotic armed conflict. I felt that at times this hindered the film amongst foreign audiences who perhaps aren't as familiar with the conflict as those with some connection to the area. I understood the energy and the music and the people, but to truly put that into context, to truly understand the threat they face, I think I needed just that little bit more. Even if it's shown through facts on screen, rather than through footage itself. I needed to know more about what we discussed in the Q&A. More will follow about Hajooj's comments during this in a later post.
voanews.com
However, despite the film's avoidance of glorifying the civil war through images of conflict, it found narrative elsewhere, through girls music. Lyrics written about the then and the now, songs that are owned by the people that sing them, girls music is the blood that runs through the region. Hajooj mixes music into music to tell our story, with interviews with musicians and those who have been targeted by the Khartoum regime. We are shown the ditches that are used as bomb shelters and craters from previous drops. We are shown images of a SPWL soldier shot and injured. But mostly we are shown music, dance and celebration which left me tapping my feet and swaying in my seat. The tribe even settles a dispute through music. Wouldn't it be nice if Khartoum embraced THAT part of their heritage?
ff.hrw.org
The audio mix is clever, the camera work has its moments but gives us a sense of rushing to capture the off-the-cuff outbursts of song - and the panic that comes with running away from a Khartoum bomber. Even the beats of the Antonov bombs hitting the ground play a part in the lyrical narrative of the film. It is wonderfully unique with a value placed on identity throughout. Sudan has suffered civil war, a split to North and South, more civil war - all of which has redefined the borders that helped define their identity. With that constantly changing, it's clear that the Blue Nile and Nuba tribe are a people who aren't as easily confused, or at least, will not deny their African roots in favour of the North's Arab ones. They celebrate it, and to be honest, I'd quite like to celebrate it with them. They know how to party!
sudanhub.net
The foundations of the film were firmly set up in the Nuba mountains and that is where we found it's heart. With continuous bombings from Sudanese planes, our filmmaker shares with us that, he can almost understand when it is two separate groups that are killing each other, but 'the fact that it is our own people bombing us, is something I can never understand'. What is discussed as the issue of the constant fighting is a tragic denial of the African roots of North Sudan's capital, Khartoum. With a government reputable for its crimes against humanity and its freezing out of foreign investigative organisations, 'Beats of the Antonov' carries with it a fighting spirit that claims Sudan's African heritage as a part of its very beginning and maintains that should be celebrated, not eradicated.
Hajooj shared with us that he didn't want the film to be about war, or about the conflict. He felt that to tell the story of the Blue Nile and Nuba tribes he needed to show who they were as people and that could not be achieved through focusing on war with Khartoum, although we do get to see some rather chaotic armed conflict. I felt that at times this hindered the film amongst foreign audiences who perhaps aren't as familiar with the conflict as those with some connection to the area. I understood the energy and the music and the people, but to truly put that into context, to truly understand the threat they face, I think I needed just that little bit more. Even if it's shown through facts on screen, rather than through footage itself. I needed to know more about what we discussed in the Q&A. More will follow about Hajooj's comments during this in a later post. 
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