Gadalla Gubara (, 1920–2008) was a Sudanese

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmaking ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

. Over five decades, he produced more than 50

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

and three

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s. He was a pioneer of

African cinema Cinema of Africa is both the history and present of the making or screening of films on the African continent, and also refers to the persons involved in this form of audiovisual culture. It dates back to the early 20th century, when film reels w ...

, having been a co-founder of both the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers FEPACI and the FESPACO Film festival (

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's n ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

). His daughter, Sara Gubara, who is a graduate of

Cairo Higher Institute of Cinema Cairo Higher Institute of Cinema (Arabic:المعهد العالي للسينما) was founded in 1957 as the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa, and is affiliated to the ministry of culture. The institute is a member of the Internation ...

, Egypt, assisted him with his later film projects, after he had lost his eyesight. She is considered to be Sudan's first female film director.

Early life

Gubara was born in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in 1920. His father was a farmer, and a part of the extended family of

Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad ( ar, محمد أحمد ابن عبد الله; 12 August 1844 – 22 June 1885) was a Nubian Sufi religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, as a youth, studied Sunni Islam. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, an ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served as an officer in the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

on the North African campaign. There, the

Colonial Film Unit The Colonial Film Unit (C.F.U) was a propaganda and educational film production organization of the British government. It produced films for various British colonies including British Guiana and Nigeria. The Jamaica Film Unit was a division f ...

screened films such as '' Desert Victory'', ''Our African Soldiers on Active Service'' and ''With Our African Troops in the Middle East'' for the troops. This was Gubara's first exposure to film, leading him to seek further training after the war, while stationed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. After his training, the British Film Unit commissioned him to return to Sudan and make educational films about the country's agriculture schemes to be screened to local audiences across the country.

Career

Gubara was also one of Sudan's first photographers, capturing for example the raising of the flag of the newly independent country on January 1, 1956. In a late recognition, some of his photographs were presented in 2015 at the

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

exhibition '''The Khartoum School: the making of the modern art movement in Sudan (1945–present) by the Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE. In 1955, Gubara produced Africa's first colour film, ''Song of Khartoum'', a contribution to the genre of documentary films about

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

cities. The years following

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in 1956 were marked by an atmosphere of political and cultural awakening in Sudan. Gubara became the main filmmaker for the newly established Sudan Film Unit under the Ministry of Culture and Information. During this period, he documented many events and everyday life with his camera: Government meetings with president

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

of Egypt or Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassi on a state visit, the nightlife of Khartoum, the construction of railway lines, factories and dams. At the end of the 1950s, he received a grant to continue his film studies at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, and was appointed as director of the Sudan Film Unit upon his return in 1962. Gadalla_Gubara_and_Riefenstahl

Wanting to produce his own documentaries and, most of all, feature films, he left the Sudan Film Unit and set up Sudan's first private film studio, Studio Gad, in 1974.Life in film: preserving the legacy of Sudanese film-maker Jadallah Jubara
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 July 2016. His first feature film '' Tajouj'' (1977) is a dramatic story about the unhappy love of two suitors towards the heroine, set in rural Eastern Sudan, and featured the actor Salah ibn Al Badya. ''Tajouj'' won the Nefertiti Statue, Egypt's highest film award, at the

Cairo International Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival ( ar, مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year sin ...

in 1982, and won prizes at film festivals in Alexandria, Ouagadougou, Tehran, Addis Ababa, Berlin, Moscow, Cannes and Carthage. Viva_Sara

In 1984, Gubara published a semi-documentary short film called '''Viva Sara'''. It tells the story of his daughter Sara, who despite her physical handicap from having suffered from

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

as a child, became Sudan's first participant in an international competition for swimmers between the

island of Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

and the city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in Italy. Gadalla lost his sight at the age of 80, when his studio had been confiscated by the government, but still continued with his last film projects, with his daughter Sara Gadalla Gubara assisting him. In 2006, he received the 'Award for Excellence' for his career at the Africa Movie Academy Awards.

Reception

Highlighting perhaps Gubara's most prolific era, the Sudanese author Omar Zaki wrote: In 2008, filmmaker Frédérique Cifuentes made a documentary film about Gubara, called Cinema in Sudan: Conversations with Gadalla Gubara, part of which was made available in

Sudan Memory Sudan Memory is an online archive and cultural heritage project, provided by an international group of partners with the aim of conserving and promoting Sudanese cultural heritage. In the course of the project, digital reproductions of books and n ...

's online archive. Between 2014 and 2016, many of Gubara's films were digitised by the in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany, and have been shown again to audiences in Sudan as well as abroad.

Filmography (feature films)

*'' Tajouj'' (1977) *''Barakat Al-Sheikh'' (1998) *''Les misérables'', adaptation of the novel by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

(2006)

References

External links