Grindhouse Article: "Too Bad, Isn't It?"

"Too Bad. Isn't It?"

We owe it to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez who gave a new non-obscene meaning to grinding. The couple merely made two separate movies to be shown as a double-feature. Death Proof and Planet Terror, respectively. Likewise, this article is a double-feature!

Gadalla Gubara

Gubara @ CBS network 1962

An African muses over his simple but life-consuming film making in an underdeveloped country.
The video which throws some light on cinema making in Sudan, also serves as an incredibly candid retelling of the simple personal story of a family man who was so kind and loving as to involve his whole family in his artistic endeavors to the extent that most of his children went on to become media experts. The one that didn't, his daughter Sarah, swam her way into international athletic fame.

Gubara Up for a Shoot

Gadalla Gubara is deemed one of the founders of African cinema. He started his film career in 1946. He had good exposure to North African and to West African cinema. The latter, he believed, was the one that really counted in his time. He was well-known to have been one of the event directors of the prestigious FESPACO, Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He befriended such prominent figures as Haili Gerima, Ousmane Sembene and Souleymane Cissé.

Although Gubara worked as a professional with Sudan government's Film Unit of the Ministry of Information and executed several documentaries for the government, he also aspired to make feature films. In 1974 he owned his own private studio. In 1979 he made Tajooje, shot on location in east Sudan. In 2005 he made Hugo's Les Miserables, which was one movie he wanted the French people to see! Find out why in this one-hour video below.

In the process of eradicating all things cultural, the dictatorial regime in Khartoum revoked Gubara's studio license and confiscated his land and property, subsequently he lost his vision.

In spite of his simple way of telling his story, Gubara seemed uninterested in mentioning other Sudanese key players who came into the cinema business, other than cinematographer Mr. Kamal Ibrahim. It seems like he only mentored family members which wasn't too bad, was it?

Mohammed Aljjazar

This is a visionary clip with highly advanced tackling of language differences at the alter of a unifying rendering.
The sounds of Arabic and Amharic languages are so fraternized you can discern the similarities.
The video has such a chocolicious feel to it and the lighting is warm and comforting.
Directed by Ali Altigani
Featuring a song by Sudanese singer/songwriter Mohamed Aljjazar and Ethiopian singer Halima Abdarahman.