Conversation with the Sudanese-born filmmaker who is part of Winnipeg’s Black Film Collective

Ahmed Alnoor is a filmmaker who immigrated from Sudan to Winnipeg when he was four years old. He is part of Winnipeg’s Black Film Collective, which advocates for the creation of black film art in the Prairies.

Alnoor says his first short, “Stole Youth,” is as much his story as it is a culmination of the voices of the Black Film Collective.

CityNews Reporter Joanne Roberts: In this career that you’ve started now, you told me it started when you were very young.

Ahmed Alnoor: “Many of my earliest memories of when (my mother and I) first immigrated to Canada are watching The Movie Channel with my mother. Subconsciously using it to learn English, but then just enjoying that quality time together and just the magic of movies. … We still enjoy getting together, watching movies together, so it’s been a lifelong passion that has slowly turned into this creative endeavor.”

JR: What drew you to the movies to them?

AA: “I think, for lack of a better term, you know, you have to rely on the cliché, but movies have a magic that could transport us (my mom and I) anywhere. When we didn’t have all the resources in the world, watching The Movie Channel could take us almost anywhere and go on all these adventures with these characters. The bond we were able to build with what we were seeing on the screen just (reinforced) that little bond of our own, that quality time we were able to share. It’s very hard to put your finger on it, but you know it when you see it.”

JR: Tell me about this film you created.

AA: “I just designed my first short film. It’s called ‘Stolen Youth’… It’s a simple story about this unassuming thief coming to terms with all their emotions following their first heist that resonated with me. I’ve always loved heist movies. To have an all-black cast, a predominantly black crew, and all the ways that we’re overlooked especially in the film industry, and to claim that, to have some autonomy over our stories, and to be able to share that in the story was something with really special for me as a writer/director. Everyone who was involved, it really resonated with them. Their passion also helped build the story.

“We entered the (University of Winnipeg) Film Festival. This is the first film festival I applied to, where I was accepted. It was such a special experience to have my first screening, to see a project I made from a simple idea I had in my head. Writing it down. The gathering of all. Spending the whole night filming it, seeing it come to life and then playing it on a big screen with an audience. Getting all their reactions in real time was super, super fulfilling and inspiring and I can’t wait to do the next one.”

JR: I think that’s a huge accomplishment. Do you think this industry has opened up to creatives who probably 10 or 20 years ago wouldn’t have been able to do what you do?

AA: “Absolutely. When I was really young I thought maybe when I grow up I’ll be involved in film and that could be something. Certainly part of it was my own doubt and insecurity. It’s still surreal even now to call myself a filmmaker, but the ways I’ve interacted with the industry in the last year and seeing all the groups out there like the Black Screen Office, the Black Film Collective, all the different ways. that we have a new voice in this industry, we are aware of the imbalances in whose stories are told and the ways in which they are told. I’m tired of seeing black people suffer in major motion pictures. Not enough rom Black comms, you know what I mean?

“So having these conversations, I recently went on the (Black Screen Office) tour, where they stopped in major cities across Canada and were in a room here in Winnipeg, surrounded by other black people in the industry, talking about the same things. and advocating for the change we want to see is very, very inspiring.”

JR: So that means you don’t think the industry is just opening up in Winnipeg – it’s opening up everywhere?

AA: “Perfect! You know, from your lips to God’s ears. The conversations that happen don’t just happen here. … There is this united front that I have high hopes for and we’ll see how it goes. Things seem to be on an upward trajectory and it makes me very hopeful.”

JR: You also won some awards yesterday (for Stole Youth). … What does this mean to you?

AA: “Stole Youth won the Audience Choice Award at the University of Winnipeg Film Festival. We also won Best Cinematography for our cinematographer, Cyril Karwa, and it’s surreal. My head is still in the clouds, I can’t believe it. It was just a shot in the dark, you know. Even finishing it was a huge, Herculean effort with so many different people. It’s a miracle that this film is here and has been seen by people, and to have won multiple awards at a film festival with a jury and all the bells and whistles, is huge for us. It’s huge for everyone at Black Film Collective.”