Between cinema and swimming Sarah Jadallah… creativity by genes

Sudan Events – Magda Hassan

The (Sudanese Inspirational Women) website celebrated the Sudanese swimming march

Sarah Jadallah Jubara follows her career in the field of swimming, which was rarely included women. However, here we can present a (cinematic) story and an international champion who made Sudanese women a name that resonates globally and locally.

Love since childhood

Sarah said in a previous interview that she loved cinema from a young age and that it ran in her blood from birth. She is the daughter of Jadallah Jubara, who was one of the pioneers of Sudanese cinema and the most prolific filmmaker. He documented the history of Sudan from its independence in the mid-fifties until his death in 2008. He had a role in the emergence of African cinema and its representation in international forums.

Film production

Sarah followed in her father’s footsteps and even produced a film about her father, just as her father produced a film about her life. Jubara is the most productive, as his cinematic record contains more than 300 documentaries and 4 feature films, which varied between short and long. The Seventh Art in Sudan was also associated with his name even after his passing. Sarah said that she was inspired by her father’s experience and wants to continue his career.
Sarah’s story with the Seventh Art is no less courageous, bold and persistent than the path of her father, who was one of the founders of the African Federation of Filmmakers, which was established in 1970 after the Algiers meeting of African filmmakers, and its role was to adopt a bold policy to help cinema and audiovisuals in the African continent, and to create regulatory mechanisms for the benefit of the sector and financing the infrastructure to create a generation of filmmakers.

International champion

International champion and cinematic star, in her long journey she faced a lot of challenges. She began it when she was only two years old. Despite her leg’s disability, Jubara entered the swimming pools, first challenging the disability and the conservative Sudanese society, which “overlooked” the masculinity that governs it. After the little girl grew up and her dreams became the dreams of an entire country that she represented in many ways. From international forums, she became an international champion, winning more than thirty-five medals and winning the Republic Championship nineteen consecutive times.

Scientific journey

Because she was saturated with cinema when she was young with her father, Sarah also broke in the world of cinema as a young woman. After a trip to Egypt that lasted for years to receive academic lessons in cinema and directing, she then returned to continue her father’s career, with whom she co-produced the film “Les Misérables” with a Sudanese touch, becoming one of the rare Sudanese female filmmakers, in a field where men imposed control despite the lack of production.

Documenting the history of Sudan

Sarah has completed a number of documentaries and short tapes about the situation of women in Sudan as well as the harmful societal customs that are practiced against them. She believes that there are many customs that are still practiced on women in various Sudanese regions, which do not serve justice to them as women, nor as an individual who can contribute to building this country. One of the issues Sarah focused on was female circumcision, which dates back to the Pharaonic civilization, and to which eight films were devoted. It was a method of educating Sudanese, especially those living in remote areas, about its dangers.