Sundial
Fall Grants 2024 - Production Stage
Atheel Elmalik / Short Narrative / Egypt, Qatar, Chad / 13 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Coming of age, Drama
Synopsis
“Amidst the uncertainty of an escalating military conflict in Khartoum, on what might be her family’s last day in their home, 19-year-old Najma’s primary focus is to reach her not-quite-boyfriend, Ziyad. As her world collapses around her, she searches for something stable—for time, for connection, for a next day, hour, or even minute.
She finds solace in the sun’s rays moving through her home, clinging to moments of fleeting normalcy. With the neighbourhood cut off from electricity, cell service, and internet, Najma embarks on a quest to find something she hasn’t seen in a long time: a functioning clock. Her determination finally leads her to their meeting spot, but the question remains—will Ziyad be there? Will it be goodbye?
“
Credits
- Director
- Atheel Elmalik
- Screenwriter
- Atheel Elmalik
- Producer
- Terence Nance, Mariama Bonetti, Laetitia Walendom
- Production Company
- BLK MTR
About the Director
Atheel Elmalik is a Sudanese writer and filmmaker exploring stories on movement and migration, intergenerational healing, and sentience beyond the human world. She writes for the liberated relationships of people to land and to one another.
A graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Anthropology and Visual Studies, she has worked in the Media and Performance Art Department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. While managing artist, director and cinematographer Arthur Jafa’s studio, Atheel produced The White Album, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennial. She script supervised for Jafa on multiple projects, including Jafa’s contribution to Khalil Joseph’s BLK NWS. She has since been developing and writing her first original feature with SunHaus. Sundial is Atheel’s first foray into directing.