COTTON QUEEN
In a farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa (Mihad Murtada) spends her days working in the cotton fields and listening to her grandmother, the village matriarch Al-Sit, tell heroic tales of battling British colonizers. But when a young businessman arrives from abroad with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the center of a power play to determine the future of the village. Awakening to her own strength, Nafisa sets out to save the cotton fields — and herself. Neither she nor her community will ever be the same again. Suzannah Mirghani becomes the first Sudanese woman to direct a narrative feature film with this brilliantly crafted and sensitively told coming-of-age drama that premiered at the Venice Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week. (Note adapted from TOTEM.) Best International Film, 2025 Thessaloniki Film Festival. DIR/SCR Suzannah Mirghani; PROD Caroline Daube. Didar Domehri, Annemarie Jacir. Sudan/Germany/France/Palestine/Egypt/Qatar/Saudi Arabia, 2025, color, 94 min. In Arabic with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Co-presented with the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (DCEFF)
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, March 21, 2026
Genre: Drama
