Sifinja: the Iron Bride

Valerie Hänsch / Sudan,Germany / 2009 / 70 minutes

Thursday 9th March 2017, 6:30PM. Bromley Historic Collections
The Lubbock Gallery, 2nd Floor, Central Library, High Street, Bromley BR1 1EX

Winner of the Material Culture & Archaeology Film Prize at the RAI Festival of Ethnographic Film 2011.

The English Bedford-Lorry was introduced to Sudan in the late 1960s. Since then, local craftsmen technically modify the truck into an ideal vehicle, adequate for traveling off-road and for performing customers’ expectations. In different places in Sudan the carpenters and blacksmiths not only create a shiny iron bride, but they change the whole structure of the lorry through a highly unorthodox performance. Following closely the daily work, art and history of truck-modding on the Nile, a fascinating way of African creativity dealing with global commodities – the automobiles – is opened up.

Organised by film ambassador Jane Cameron.

Part of the Film Festival Ambassador series. Thanks to our dedicated RAI Film Festival Ambassadors, a selection of films from the RAI Film Festival Archive will be screening in universities and community venues across the UK between November 2016 and March 2017.

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Sifinja: the Iron Bride