Cotton Queen: A Sudanese story of resilience at venice

Sudanese cinema made a strong impression at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival with the world premiere of Cotton Queen, the debut feature by Suzannah Mirghani. This feminist drama, set in a rural Sudanese village, was warmly received in the International Critics’ Week section.

Through the story of Nafisa, played by Mihad Murtada, the film portrays a young girl coming of age while torn between tradition and the promises of change. Growing up in a community sustained for generations by cotton, she learns from her grandmother, a symbol of resistance, before taking on her own fight to protect her land against a foreign entrepreneur introducing genetically modified cotton.

For Suzannah Mirghani, the project is more than a story—it is a way to show another side of Sudan, beyond the negative images of war and suffering often dominating the news. She highlights cotton as both a colonial legacy and a unifying force for her people.

Forced to shoot in Egypt due to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, Mirghani worked with Sudanese actors, many of whom are now refugees. Cotton Queen thus becomes both a work of art and an act of resilience, celebrating culture, memory, and identity.