COTTON QUEEN SUZANNAH MIRGHANI

  • GERMANY | FRANCE | PALESTINE | EGYPT | QATAR | SAUDI ARABIA | SUDAN

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  • ARABIC

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  • 2025

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  • 94 mins

In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa is raised on heroic tales of battling British colonizers told by her grandmother, the village matriarch Al-Sit. But when a young businessman arrives from abroad with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the center of a power play to determine the future of the village. Awakening to her own strength, Nafisa sets out to save the cotton fields – and herself. Neither she nor her community will ever be the same again.

Producer(s) or Production Company :

Caroline Daube, Didar Domehri

Screenplay :

Suzannah Mirghani

Director of Photography :

Frida Marzouk

Editor :

Amparo Mejías, Simon Blasi, Frank Müller

Music :

Amine Bouhafa

Sound :

Emmanuel Zouki, Laure Arto

Cast :

Mihad Murtada, Rabha Mohamed Mahmoud, Talaat Fareed

Awards - Winner :

Thessaloniki FF (Best Feature Film, Best Music Composer)

Awards - Nominations | Screened | Official Selection :

Venice FF (Best Film), SCHLINGEL IFF (Best Youth Film), Chicago IFF (New Directors Competition)

Suzannah Mirghani (b. 1978) is a Sudanese-Russian filmmaker and writer based in Doha, where she works as an editor at Georgetown University in Qatar. Her acclaimed short film AL-SIT (2020) screened widely, including on Netflix MENA, and won the Canal+ Award at Clermont-Ferrand along with multiple international prizes. Her short films also include HIND’S DREAM (2014), CARAVAN (2016), VIRTUAL VOICE (2021), AND KAMALA IBRAHIM ISHAG: STATES OF ONENESS (2022), commissioned by Serpentine Galleries. COTTON QUEEN is her feature debut.