Sudan Beyond the Headlines

Sudan is often encountered through the language of conflict and humanitarian crisis. Yet the land we today call Sudan has carried many names and many stories. It has been known as Ta-Seti, Kush, Meroë, Nubia, Aethiopia, Makuria, Alodia, Sennar, Darfur, and Sudan, reflecting thousands of years of cultural exchange, migration, state formation, and artistic expression.

Sudan Beyond the Headlines invites audiences to encounter this rich and layered heritage through a multisensory cultural festival. Rather than presenting a single narrative, the event offers multiple entry points into Sudan's past and present through food, music, visual art, scent, film, storytelling, and conversation. 

The program includes the launch of a publication on Sudanese culinary heritage, traditional foods and drinks, live cooking demonstrations, Sudanese perfumes and fragrance practices, visual installations, workshops, art displays, musical performances spanning classical and contemporary traditions, and a curated program of short films. 

Bringing together musicians, visual artists, chefs, curators, filmmakers, and cultural practitioners from Sudan and the Sudanese diaspora, the festival creates opportunities for encounter between Berlin's diverse cultural communities and members of the Sudanese diaspora in Germany and beyond. The festival is an invitation: to encounter Sudan not only as a place affected by war, but as a cultural landscape shaped by thousands of years of history, artistic expression, memory, and human connection, revealing stories that extend far beyond the headlines. 

Taste

• Sudanese Kitchen publication launch  
• Traditional Sudanese food and drinks  
• Live cooking demonstrations by Omer Eltijani Eltigani 

Sound 

• Hassan Al Malik (classical Sudanese music)  
• Ebo Krdum (Afro-blues and Afrobeat)
• Moe Elamin (DJ-Set) 

Sight

• Visual installations curated by Abdelalsalam Alhaj  
• Art displays and sales   
• Curated short film program  

Scent

• Sudanese perfumes and fragrance traditions  
• Bakhoor and scent-based cultural experiences

Touch

• Textiles, materials, crafts, and interactive elements 

Memory

• Storytelling, film, artistic interventions, and cultural reflection connecting past and present 

An event in collaboration with United for Sudan.