''Kafi's Story'' is an

ethnographic film An ethnographic film is a non-fiction film, often similar to a documentary film, historically shot by Western filmmakers and dealing with non-Western people, and sometimes associated with anthropology. Definitions of the term are not definitive. ...

about life of Nuba ethnic people in Sudan, directed by

Amy Hardie Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''. People A–E * Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress * Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886–19 ...

and

Arthur Howes Arthur Joseph Christopher Howes (15 July 1950 – 29 November 2004) was a documentary film maker and teacher. Life Howes was born in Gibraltar on 15 July 1950, and moved to London as a teenager. He was married to Amy Hardie and had one son. He ...

Synopsis

Shot between 1986 and 1988, ''Kafi's Story'' captures scenes from the life of

Nuba peoples The Nuba people are indigenous inhabitants of central Sudan. Nuba are various indigenous ethnic groups who inhabit the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state in Sudan, encompassing multiple distinct people that speak different languages which b ...

just before they were involved in the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originate ...

. Kafi, a young man from the Torogi village in the

Nuba Mountains The Nuba Mountains ( ar, جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the Middle Ages, ...

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 ...

, is one of the first men to travel north to the capital

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 ...

in search of money. Having money is the only way for him to get a dress and to marry a second wife, Tete. Ten years after this film, Arthur Howes went back to Sudan to shoot the documentary ''

Nuba Conversations ''Nuba Conversations'' is a 2000 documentary and ethnographic film directed by Arthur Howes. Synopsis Ten years after shooting Kafi's Story British filmmaker Arthur Howes reentered in Sudan clandestinely to find out what had happened to the N ...

'', where he wanted to capture the life of

during the war.

Festivals

Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia
(2000)

Awards

Joris Ivens Award (third place) of IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(1989) * Documentary Award at BBC BP Expo Documentary, England (1990) * Basil Wright Prize of R.A.I. International Festival of Etnographic Films, England (1990) matthias-schoebe.de/pdf/rai2011catalogue.pdf * American Visual Anthropology Award (2000)

Bibliography

* Loizos, Peter, ''Sudanese Engagements: Three Films by Arthur Howes (1950–2004)'', Routledge, 2006

External links

''Kafi's Story''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Arthur Howes
at the

Amy Hardie
at the

''Kafi's Story
at

California Newsreel California Newsreel, was founded in 1968 as the San Francisco branch of the national film making collective Newsreel. It is an American non-profit, social justice film distribution and production company still based in San Francisco, California. Th ...

Sudan Update'Kafi's Story''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

University of California' Beverly Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive''Caught in the Crossfire'' Arthur Howes' article
in

New Internationalist ''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned and run by a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known for its strict editorial and environmental pol ...

Article about Arthur Howes
at

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 ...

Nuba Survival Foundation

References

Films shot in Sudan Anthropology documentary films 1989 films 1989 documentary films British documentary films {{Africa-film-stub