AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG: Taghreed Elsanhouri's Sudan

20 January 2011

Taghreed Elsanhouri's Sudan

Taghreed Elsanhouri

I was struck by the love and tenderness in Taghreed Elsanhouri’s voice when speaking of her son Abdelsamih and the emotional journey of meeting him while making her film The Orphans of Mygoma (2008). From this encounter she evolved from dispassionate filmmaker to ultimately, an engaging mother. Commissioned by Aljazeera, Taghreed set out to Sudan to make a film about the children brought to the Mygoma Orphanage in Karthoum after being abandoned by their unwed mothers.

The Orphans of Mygoma was Taghreed’s second film about Sudan, which she had left as a child. Working in television in England, she always wanted to talk about Sudan but it was only during the Darfur crisis in 2005 that she found her voice and purpose. Her first independent film, All About Darfur came from her desire to understand what was happening in Sudan and to tell the story from the dual perspective of a northerner of Sudan, part of a dominant group, and a black woman in Britain living with racism.

In her third film, Mother Unknown (2009), Taghreed returned to the orphanage around which she bases the stories of two young unmarried mothers and one unmarried father who want to keep their babies.

We continue as she talks about her future projects and answers my many questions about her experiences as a filmmaker. Stirred by the passionate story at Mygoma, I return to our original conversation. Profoundly touched by the experience that transformed her life, and his, Taghreed reflects on her son Abdelsamih. Though blind, having lost his eyes to cancer as a baby, she is nonetheless optimistic by his strength and curiosity, his amazing courage and ability to love and live fully. In her eyes I see that he has a bright future. (Report by Beti Ellerson)