This vibrant, music-rich, documentary showing how people in the Blue Nile/Nuba Mountains area of Sudan are responding to regular bombing raids by celebrating and taking strength from their culture.

As tensions between the so-called Arab north and African south continue, so too does Sudan’s inner-conflict. While the Khartoum government of the north imposes not only their rule (via Russian Antonov aeroplanes) but also their culture on the south, rebel forces prevail in the Blue Nile state of the Nuba Mountains where villagers gather in mountain hideouts and refugee camps. For eighteen months, director Hajooj Kuka filmed the lives of these displaced communities who have lost friends, family and belongings. Yet, far from finding a devastated and defeated people, he discovered a raw purpose and energy - their weapon of choice being music, song and dance.

This beautiful and subtle documentary explores a people coming to terms with their culture, and facing the notion that the question of identity is at the heart of their country’s ongoing conflict. A film that is a celebration of life as much as culture that fully deserved to scoop the People's Choice Award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

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