
“We Did Not Lose Our Love for Our City” | Timeea Mohamed Ahmed & Rawia Alhag, Khartoum

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why?
Timeea Mohamed Ahmed: I’ll never forget the day I shot a green screen reconstruction with Jawad, the “Rasta” Sufi biker, my subject, from a moment of his experience in the war. We were recreating the moment he learned his close friend had been killed. We thought we were prepared—both of us—but when the camera rolled, the weight of the memory broke through. His shock was like the first time; it was raw, and it pulled me into my own buried fears from my time in war inside Khartoum. For a moment, I wasn’t the director: I was just someone reckoning with fragility and loss. And it wasn’t just about Jawad’s story; it reminded me about the collective horrors of so many Sudanese today, living under the fires of war. It taught me how the act of making cinema can so deeply impact us and open so many emotions. That day wasn’t just filmmaking; it was truth. We all felt it, and that honesty bled into the scene, unfiltered and alive.
Rawia Alhag: For me, there is a special day. We, the team: Anas, Yousef and Brahim Snoopy, with the two children, were filming in the market in Khartoum. It was special because, for me, since the December revolution in my country, it has been very difficult for all of us to be out with so many military personnel. Certainly, we as filmmakers were not allowed to film in the streets without a permit, and the permit was only granted to certain parties. Just the act of filming and recording in this market made me proud. The act of filming—just on our phones—was our act of resistance. We lost everything in the war, but we did not lose our love for our city, Khartoum. If we had surrendered then and been afraid to film, we would have regretted it for the rest of our lives. I think the most beautiful thing is that we were a team of directors and partners, each supporting the other and each striving to create something special despite the fear all around us.
See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.