EXCLUSIVE: MAD World, the sales arm of Cairo-based MAD Solutions, has secured international rights to Mohammed Alomda’s Blue Card, an upcoming Sudanese feature from the creators of acclaimed titles Goodbye Julia and You Will Die At Twenty.
The Sudan-Egypt-Germany-Saudi co-production follows Abdullah, who flees alone to Egypt after the outbreak of war in Sudan and begins plans to smuggle out his family. To earn the necessary money, he takes a demeaning job at a nursing home, where unexpected relationships begin to influence his decisions and reshape his future.
Scripted by Egyptian Coptic writer Paula Thabet, filming is due to take place from late April to late May with delivery by November.
It marks the directorial debut of Alomda and is produced by Amjad Abu Alala. Both are award-winning Sudanese filmmakers based in Cairo who co-founded production company Station Films.
Their credits include You Will Die At Twenty, directed by Alala, which premiered at Venice in 2019 and won the Lion Of The Future Award. They also produced Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia, which became the first ever Sudanese feature to play at Cannes, where it won the Freedom Award in Un Certain Regard in 2023.
Alomda also produced Yemeni film The Burdened by Amr Gamal, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2023 and the Amnesty International Film Prize.
Alomda, Alala and Thabet were due to attend the Berlinale Co-Production Market this week with Blue Card but withdrew after their visa applications were rejected by the German embassy in Cairo on the grounds of “migration risk”. It would have been the sole Arab title among 35 projects at the co-pro market after being selected from 390 submissions.
The upcoming feature has already assembled a solid framework of backers and is co-produced by Germany’s Mayana Films, France’s Player Films, Norway’s Barentsfilm, and Saudi partners through Red Sea Lodge and MBC Studios.
Further funding has come from CineGouna, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC)
MAD World, which is at the ongoing European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin, said Blue Card “blends intimate character drama with the geopolitical realities facing Sudanese families today and balances emotional immediacy with universal themes of migration, dignity, and belonging.”
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