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 whose work explores liberated relationships between people, land, and one another through stories of movement, migration, intergenerational healing, and connection to the sentience of the more-than-human world. With a degree in Anthropology from Stanford University, Atheel has held curatorial roles at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has worked in producing, assistant directing, and script supervising for film and television. Based between Doha and shifting elsewheres, Atheel is currently developing her first narrative short film, ‘Sundial’.