''Beats of the Antonov'' is a documentary film released in 2014. It is a

Sudanese Sudanese or Sudanic may refer to: *pertaining to the country of Sudan **the people of Sudan, see Demographics of Sudan *pertaining to Sudan (region) **Sudanic languages **Sudanic race, subtype of the Africoid racial category See also *Sudanese Civ ...

-South African coproduction, directed by Sudanese filmmaker

Hajooj Kuka Hajooj Kuka is the founder of Refugee Club and the director of ''Beats of the Antonov''. Kuka was born in Sudan of the Mahas ethnic group, but relocated with his family to Abu Dhabi. Kuka travels frequently between Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nil ...

and produced by

and Steven Markovitz. The film documents the

Sudan–SRF conflict The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile is an armed conflict in the Sudanese southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a northern affiliat ...

in the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains regions, focusing in particular on the role of music in helping the affected communities to sustain themselves culturally and spiritually in the face of the ongoing conflict.TIFF ’14: Awards glory for "Beats of the Antonov"
''RealScreen'', 14 September 2014. This documentary, that "put Sudan's name on the screen of world cinema", was made over a period of two years, with

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

residing among the people of the Nuba Mountains in Southern Sudan.

Premise

The premise of ''Beats of the Antonov'' is that the core reason for the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in Sudan is an identity issue. Over many years, the central government in Sudan has enforced an Arab-Islamic identity on the other 56 major ethnic groups of Sudan. However, in reality Sudan has a diverse population with multi-cultural backgrounds. Through the documentary,

depicts the resilience of the people of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains areas of Sudan through life-celebrating music and dance, despite their daily struggle to survive in a war-torn society.

Reviews

The film won the People's Choice Award for Best Documentary at the

2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...

and was well-reviewed by

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

, ''

Point of View Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronou ...

'', ''The Guardian'', ''Variety'' and Africa is a CountryNew film, "Beats of the Antonov," unlike anything I have ever seen
''Africa is a Country'', 15 September 2014. among others.

Awards and nominations

Festival appearances

References

External links

*
''Beats of the Antonov''
on Vimeo.com on demand {{TIFF People's Choice Documentaries 2014 films 2014 documentary films Sudanese documentary films South African documentary films Documentary films about African music Documentary films about Sudan Documentary films about war Films set in Sudan