From Suakin to the Archive: How The Dislocation of Amber Survived
Suakin, Sudan, November 2008. Photograph by Bertramz. Location photograph, unmodified. Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0. A Swiss-held print, a restoration unit in Cairo, a distributor in Berlin and a Sudanese association in California all appear in the recent history of The Dislocation of Amber. The Roxie cinema’s September 2026 programme connects them. Hussein Shariffe’s film had reached another screen, half a century after it was made. Roxie programme Made in 1975, The Dislocation of Amber takes the Red Sea port of Suakin as its setting. Shariffe’s own filmography credits the Sudanese Department of Culture Film Unit as producer, Abdel Moneim Aladawy as cinematographer and Allan Ballard as editor. It records a running time of 32 minutes and identifies Abdel-Aziz Dawoud’s singing as part of the soundtrack. These names matter together. The work preserved today carries the labour of a group of Sudanese and international collaborators. Shariffe’s filmography ...