No Simple Way Home

VICTORIAN PREMIERE

Presented by Maribyrnong City Council

Director Q+A (pre-recorded) with Akuol de Mabior,

Plus a performance of Home Sickness and Knife Wounds by Flora Chol

SUNDAY 7 MAY 2023 | 4:30PM
THE SUN THEATRE

Film Synopsis

In East Africa, Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior is known as the mother of South Sudan. Her husband, John Garang de Mabior, its founding leader. Their daughter and director Akuol de Mabior documents the story of her influential family and the country’s conflicts.

In this intergenerational conversation that charts their struggle to reconcile family and country, Akuol de Mabior discovers that her mother's deepest yearning is for her children and the children of her compatriots to lead meaningful lives at home in South Sudan.

Having gained independence in 2011, South Sudan is the world’s youngest country and has been at war for most of its short history. Following her mother as newly elected Vice-President, Akuol is forced to come to terms with her own fears and ask: what does it mean to call South Sudan home?

This event features a performance by Flora Chol and a pre-recorded Q+A with director Akuol de Mabior moderated by HRAFF’s own Awak Rech Kongor.

Film Info

Rating: Unclassified All Ages

Director: Akuol de Mabior

Country: South Sudan, Kenya, South Africa

Year: 2022

Duration: 82 minutes

Language: English, Arabic, Dinka with English Subtitles

Genre: Documentary

Screening Location: The Sun Theatre, Yarraville | Plan your visit to The Sun Theatre

Accessibility: Wheelchair

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Pre-recorded intro with Director Akuol de Mabior

Akuol de Mabior is a South Sudanese filmmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has directed one feature-length film and four shorts. No Simple Way Home, her feature-directorial debut, had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2022 becoming the first South Sudanese film to screen at the celebrated event. The film has gone on to win the prestigious Dok.horizonte award at Dok.fest in Munich, best African documentary and the Adiaha Award for best documentary by an African woman both at Encounters South Africa. It has also screened at CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Sheffield DocFest, among others.