''Tajouje'' ( ar, تاجوج, Tājūj; also ''Tajouj'') is a 1977

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 ...

historical romance film directed by

Gadalla Gubara Gadalla Gubara (, 1920–2008) was a Sudanese cameraman, film producer, director and photographer. Over five decades, he produced more than 50 documentaries and three feature films. He was a pioneer of African cinema, having been a co-founder of ...

, who considered it his best cinematographic work. It was the first feature film directed by a Sudanese filmmaker. It presents a dramatic story about the unhappy love of two suitors towards the heroine Tajouj. Set in rural Eastern Sudan, it featured the actor Salah ibn Albadya, who was also known for his songs of popular urban music in Sudan. Among other awards, ''Tajouje'' won the Nefertiti Statute, Egypt's highest film award at the Cairo International Film Festival in 1982, and prizes at film festivals in Alexandria, Ouagadougou, Tehran, Addis Ababa, Berlin, Moscow, Cannes and Carthage. In 2015, the original copy was digitally restored by a German-Sudanese film project and shown both in Sudan and abroad.

Plot

The film's story takes place in the distant past in the eastern part of Sudan in a isolated village. Mohallak, a young tribal man, is deeply in love with his cousin Tajouje and openly confesses his love for her in a song. As this is considered shameful in his tribe, Tajouje's father refuses his marriage proposal. Some time later, Mohallak repents his mistake and the marriage is finally agreed upon. In the meantime, however, Ohag, another suitor, has shown his interest in Tajouje, which arouses Mohallak's jealousy. This develops into several dramatic complications that eventually result in tragedy: Mohallak has to leave his village as "a wandering

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

of the deserts."

Literary inspiration

The film ''Tajouje'' is based on the eponymous 1948 romantic novel by Osman Mohamed Hashim, considered by literary critics as the first Sudanese novel. The story was later adapted for a theatre play by Khaled Abu Al-Rous and produced in the National Theatre in

Omdurman Omdurman (standard ar, أم درمان ''Umm Durmān'') is a city in Sudan. It is the most populated city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the ...

Critical reception

''Tajouje'' won the Nefertiti Statute, Egypt's highest film award at the Cairo International Film Festival in 1982, and prizes at film festivals in Alexandria, Ouagadougou, Tehran, Addis Ababa, Berlin, Moscow, Cannes and Carthage. In 2015, parts of Gubara's film archive were digitised by a German-Sudanese film restoration project. Thus, the German cultural centre -

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

- in Khartoum presented ''Tajouje'' in a digitally restored version in May 2017. Further, his documentaries about everyday life in Khartoum of the 1960s were shown to new generations of film audiences in Khartoum as well as abroad. In 2019, the international movie portal Cinema Escapist considered ''Tajouje'' as one of the best films in

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 ...

. As of November 2022, ''Tajouje'' was rated 6.9 at IMDb from 27 reviews.

References

External links

*
Full-length video of Tajouj
on YouTube (

Sudanese Arabic Sudanese Arabic, also referred to as the Sudanese dialect (), Colloquial Sudanese () or locally as Common Sudanese () refers to the various related varieties of Arabic spoken in Sudan as well as parts of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Chad. Sudane ...

with English subtitles)
''Tajouj''
on shadowandact

on blog filmwalrus.com
Poster and plot
on letterboxd.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Tajouj 1977 films Sudanese drama films 1977 drama films 1970s historical romance films Films set in Sudan 1970s Arabic-language films Films directed by Gadalla Gubara