''The Art of Sin'' () is a 2020 Norwegian-Sudanese documentary film written and directed by Ibrahim Mursal. It is a portrait of the artist and

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

activist Ahmed Umar, who campaigns for gay visibility and seeks new forms of expression for their Sudanese-Norwegian identity.

Plot

Artist Ahmed Umar arrived in Norway in 2008 as a refugee from their native country,

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, which at the time was one of seven nations that executed people for same-sex conduct. Seven years later, in 2015, when Umar came out on Facebook, as one of the first openly gay man from Sudan, a large portion of the Sudanese community turned against him, including relatives. Moving to Norway, Umar quickly learns that even a liberal country can be dangerous for openly gay immigrants and is beaten during a Pride event. Despite everything, Umar longs to go back and re-establish their connection to their family and country. But will they welcome him or reject him? At that time, homosexuality was still punishable by death in Sudan. Once Umar returned to Sudan, Umar tip-toes their way around the country to meet their mother and other members of the LGBT community in Sudan. The film shows the extent of fear the Sudanese LGBT community feels from the society and the law. Umar discusses the roots of

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

in Sudan and its link to

colourism Discrimination based on skin tone, also known as colorism or shadeism, is a form of prejudice and discrimination in which individuals of the same race receive benefits or disadvantages based on the color of their skin. More specifcally, coloris ...

in Sudan. The journey in Sudan ends with Umar taking photographs with other Sudanese LGBT, but with Umar ’s face obscuring theirs. This photographic project was later named “'' carrying the face of ugliness''” (), which describes a person who does something unfamiliar, confronts an issue and takes the blame for it. In this case, being gay. Although the film focuses on Umar; the film director, Mursal, has to face his deeply held views rooted in

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

. As an immigrant himself, Mursal struggles with the notion of home, identity, and belonging. The film ends with Umar becoming a Norwegian citizen, and attending the citizenship ceremony wearing an outfit that mixes Sudanese and Norwegian cultures, i.e., Identity-Embroidered. Mursal helps Umar fix their outfit before the ceremony, in contrast to sitting far away from Ahmed at the beginning of the film.

Screening and reception

Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the film was not screened until the end of 2021, accumulating mostly positive reviews. As of Oct. 2022, the film has a rating of 7.7 in

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

. ''The Art of Sin'' won the 2020 Nordic Doc's best documentary film award between 30 and 60 minutes.

Notes

References

External links

The Art of Sin
website
The Art of Sin
Facebook page
The Art of Sin
trailer {{DEFAULTSORT:Art Of Sin Sudanese drama films Films set in Sudan 2020 LGBTQ-related films 2020 films Sudanese LGBTQ-related films Documentary films about gay men Gay-related films Documentary films about LGBTQ and Islam

Plot

Screening and reception

See also

Notes

References

External links