I AM BISHA
Over the past seven years, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has dropped thousands of bombs on villages across the Nuba Mountains. Ganja, the 26 year old pacifist son of a rebel commander, witnessed a bomb drop meters from his home. He has never found a way to fight back- until now.
Ganja became President Bashir. Or to be precise, he became the man who controls Bashir’s head. Ganja and his friends in the Nuba Mountains acquired a puppet of the dictator and filmed a satirical web series called “Bisha TV.” The show follows the president’s schemes to raise money for a campaign of violent suppression across Sudan. Over one million people have watched “Bisha TV,” most of them inside Sudan.
This short film (14’) weaves together the story of Ganja’s life in the Nuba Mountains, his creative process working under extraordinary conditions, and darkly hilarious scenes from “Bisha TV.” Through Ganja’s work- and the comic escapades of two Sudanese strongmen- we see an unlikely flowering of political humor and appreciate the true power of grassroots media.
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Distribution: Good Docs
Recognition:
- Rory Peck Award for News Features
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One World Media Short Film Award
- Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short
Festival Screenings:
- Full Frame Film Festival 2018, World Premiere
- Hot Docs International Film Festival 2018, International Premiere
- Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018, European Premiere
- Original Thinkers 2018
- Hamptons International Film Festival 2018
- IFC Center Screening 2018
- SF Doc Stories Screening 2018
- IDFA Docs for Sale 2017
- IDA Screening Series at LACMA 2018
- Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa 2018
- ReFrame Film Festival 2018
- JAYU Human Rights Film Festival 2018
- Waging Peace, Sheffield 2018
- Footcandle Film Festival 2018
- 41 North Film Festival 2018
- FIPADOC 2019
- FIPADOC Retrospective Days at Biarritz Library 2019
- MUICA Film Festival (Colombia) 2019
- International Documentary Film Festival of Bogotá 2019
- The Media Majlis at Northwestern University 2019
- Gracias Africa (Colombia) 2020
- The Never Again Coalition, Rising Up: Sudan 2020
- Wallay Festival (Spain) 2020
- Society for Photographic Education (SPE) Media Festival 2021