PORTENDED TO DIE YOUNG, A BOY AND HIS MOTHER NAVIGATE THE UNCHARTED SPACE BETWEEN COMING-OF-AGE AND FACING THE END IN SUDAN’S FIRST OFFICIAL ENTRY FOR “BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM” IN THE 93RD ACADEMY AWARDS
THE DARING FEATURE DEBUT OF DIRECTOR AMJAD ABU ALALA – ONLY THE EIGHTH NARRATIVE FEATURE FILMED IN SUDAN – Now Available On Demand
“Complex, stunning and sophisticated…a major achievement for Sudanese cinema.” -- Mina Takia, AwardsWatch
"Visually stunning and acted to perfection, You Will Die at Twenty is a portentous and masterful debut film." -- Claire Bowman, Amplify!
"The visual assurance of You Will Die at Twenty is the most immediately notable element of Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala’s accomplished feature debut. Beautifully composed and boasting the kind of sensitivity to light sources and color tonalities usually ascribed to top photographers, the film lovingly depicts the remote east-central region of Sudan as a quasi-magical place of sand, sky and the colors of the Nile. " -- Jay Weissberg, Variety
"[Alala] sharpens this fable-like coming-of-death tale into a moving commentary on unwavering compliance; a clear portrait of Sudan during its 30 years of authoritarian leadership. Thoughtfully ominous, the feature makes both an Emotional and visual imprint." -- Sarah Ward, Screen Daily
SYNOPSIS: YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY follows a child — portended to die at age 20 — as he and his mother navigate the uncharted space between coming of age and facing the end. An exceptional story and only the eighth narrative feature film to be made in Sudan, YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY follows Muzamil (played first by Moatasem Rashid then as a teen by Mustafa Shehata), whose death at age 20 is prophesied on the day of his birth by a traveling sheik. Growing up with his mother, Sakina (Islam Mubarak), in a small village under the constant loom of death, the young boy becomes increasingly curious about what it means to live beyond his mother's confines. And, encouraged by local elders, his overprotective mother relents and allows her son to study the Quran with the other children his age. In this newly found freedom, Muzamil finds friends, enemies, love, and tempters, though what he truly seeks is a sense of the present and a chance at the future.
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