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Independent German-Sudanese theatre festival Goethe-Institut Sudan
Arrival in Khartoum.
For Berlin performance artist Eva Meyer-Keller, it is the first day in Sudan
and her first encounter with a country ravaged by war and expulsion.
We rarely see images of everyday life and normalcy in the western news.
Dictator Omar al-Bashir has ruled since 1989. The laws of the sharia are in force.
Eva Meyer-Keller came to the Goethe-Institut Khartoum for the first independent theatre festival.
Cinemas and theatres are rare in Sudan.
Years of civil war destroyed everything.
The festival enables the Sudanese fine artists' scene to meet and share with a German artist.
This is not about perfection.
Also what is part of this performance presentation is about problem solving.
In Eva Meyer-Keller's performance "Pulling Strings", apparently incidental objects are strung up.
Old water bottles, for instance, become actors and begin to dance.
Each artist chooses their material and interprets the installation their own way.
There is no money in Sudan for fine artists; many have no work or low income.
Good educations are needed to bring change to the country
and that is what is being fostered here.
Eva Meyer-Keller, performance artist:
I feel that the people are excited because they have structure in their day,
they have a plan, they plan to be here today at ten.
I think many of them don't even have that.
In late September, thousands demonstrated in Khartoum against dictator Omar al-Bashir.
The protests were brutally crushed.
According to officials here, 33 people were killed; NGOs speak of over 200.
Since then, the situation has gotten worse.
The artists from Khartoum are cautious because
the political situation is always present.
Some of them lost friends during the latest demonstrations.
Actor Haytham Awad is one who finds subtle images for his criticism.
Petals rain down against state violence.
The workshop inspired his next play.
Haytham Awad, actor:
It's like a marionette play but with real people, not puppets.
They protest, release themselves from the strings and begin to act on their own.
Lilli Kobler, director of the Goethe-Institut Sudan initiated the festival.
Her mission is to strengthen civil society through cultural dialogue.
Lilli Kobler, director Goethe-Institut Sudan:
I think this is where the great strength of a theatre meeting lies:
people really come together and share, with Europe, with Germany,
with their own values, with foreign values
and their own identities, which are very different in such a diverse nation as Sudan.
On the final evening of the workshop, all theatre groups perform their plays.
An incense ritual prepares for the show to keep nerves in check.
The artists from "Pulling Strings" perform all over the building.
A map of Sudan is set alight as an image of the country's pervasive hot spots.
It is an act of provocation.
While the workshop participants still celebrate,
the next performance is already being prepared next door.
The guests from Germany are also here.
The theatre group comes from Nyala, the largest city in the crisis-ridden region of Darfur
- a place of genocide, rebel revolts and expulsions.
The directors find distinct words for their situation:
Haytham Galal Aldin, director:
The problems in Darfur are major ones, but that does not prevent artists from working.
We must try to connect with our audience. Art knows no boundaries.
The play is inspired by an old Darfur legend
and mocks despots and their hunger for power:
You back there, I'm talking to you. You with the big head.
The sultan says go this way, but you go the other way.
Do you just do what you want? Do you think there's no order here?
The actors also take their plays to the refugee camps in Darfur.
2.5 million people have become refugees since 2003.
200,000 have died in the wake of the rebel revolts.
Haytham Galal Aldin, director:
Art is important so that we can grapple with the problems in our region
and with the possibility of peaceful coexistence.
It is important to accept other peoples.
This chair needs a person with a pure heart.
A final statement that could hardly be more true and urgent.
Courageous in a situation where the government measures
the critical content of every word.
The festival is over. Farewells on the final evening.
Before, the country was just a coloured blob on the map and a few images from television
or the newspaper, but now eyes are opening. We'll see whether it leaves marks on people.
These are the final moments before the artists go back to their everyday lives
and to waiting and hoping for a better future in Sudan.