You Will Die at 20
2020 | 103 minutes | Sudan, France, Egypt, Germany, Norway, Qatar
Director: Amjad Abu Alala
Writers: Amjad Abu Alala, Yousef Ibrahim
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
Content warning: brief violence
Best Debut Film, 2019 Venice Film Festival
Best Director, Feature Film Competition, 2020 Malmö Arab Film Festival
Grand Prix in the International Competition, 2020 Fribourg International Film Festival
Set in the province of Aljazira in contemporary Sudan, the astonishing drama You Will Die At 20 revolves around Muzamil, a young boy whose mother, Sakina, is told that he is cursed to die at the age of twenty. Distraught by this prophecy, Muzamil’s father flees the village to seek work in the city, while Sakina raises him alone with great caution and care, searching constantly for a remedy for the curse. Muzamil, meanwhile, continues to grow up — making friends, working at the local grocery store, even befriending an older man who introduces him to a secular contemporary reality without curses and religious fundamentalisms. As time passes and Muzamil approaches that fateful number, what will become of him, and how has living under this temporal ‘sword of Damocles’ affected him? A poetic, deeply moving, and decidedly unusual coming-of-age story. Winner of the ‘Lion of the Future’ award for best first film at the Venice International Film Festival and critically acclaimed around the world, You Will Die At 20 is Sudan’s first ever official submission for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award.
- Tom McSorley