Ibrahim "Snoopy" Ahmed is among the four Sudanese filmmakers who came together to make "Khartoum" (2025), which became the first Sudanese film to premiere at both Sundance and Berlinale, where it won the Berlinale Peace Prize. He tells bird about his mission to use his camera to shine a spotlight on those who, like him, have been displaced from home, and about how he found refuge and community in his current city of residence, Nairobi.
By Yasir Faiz for bird story agency
Snoopy, as filmmaker Ibrahim Ahmed likes to be called, is a third-culture kid. With his camera, he bridges worlds and amplifies unheard voices, particularly from communities shaped by conflict and migration. These are not just themes; they are his lived experience.
Born in Lebanon in 1992, where his parents lived at the time, Snoopy moved to Sudan in 2009 to discover a homeland he had never fully known. He studied information technology at Sudan’s University of Science and Technology, but film quickly claimed him. He directed numerous projects in Sudan, including his award-winning debut The Curse (2017), which earned the Taharqa Award for Best Film. His second film, Journey to Kenya (2019), resonated deeply across Africa, winning awards and screening widely across festivals and platforms. Ibrahim has also contributed to films including “Serotonin” (2018), “Khartoum Offside” (2019), “From Argentina to Sudan” (2022), “The Salon” (2023) and “Sudan, Remember Us” (2024).
His visual style blends Sudanese heritage with contemporary cinematic language, often illuminating themes of social justice. Over the years, he has emerged as a storyteller and cinematographer whose work explores identity, exile, and the emotional highs and lows that come with settling in a new country.
He, alongside Rawia Alhag, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed and Anas Saeed (all are credited as the film's directors, rather than co-directors as each one directed a different segment of the film), were nearly finished filming “Khartoum”, which follows five of the city’s residents in the midst of the Sudan’s war, when the fighting worsened. Snoopy was forced to leave.
The filmmakers reunited in Nairobi. The Kenyan capital gave them the safety and community they needed to finish “Khartoum”. The film, released in 2025, is making waves. It is the first Sudanese film to premiere at both Sundance and Berlinale—cementing his reputation as an essential cinematic voice.
“Khartoum” hits close to home for both the filmmakers and the subjects. Snoopy’s story, marked by conflict and grit, has defined his artistic perspective as a filmmaker. It’s a story worth telling.
Crossing borders, traversing landscapes
When the fighting broke out in Sudan in 2023, Snoopy made the difficult decision to leave Khartoum. Months later, with a friend beside him, he travelled overland to Kenya, crossing the Ethiopian border and landscapes he knew well from his earlier 2019 journey while making “Journey to Kenya”.
“This decision comes after doing a similar journey a few years back in 2019, when I was doing a short film,” he told bird.
His familiarity with checkpoints, border procedures, and the rhythm of the road made this escape both practical and emotionally charged.
“After a few months of the 2023 Sudan war, I decided to go to Kenya with a friend. And we came by land, passing through Ethiopia. Stayed for a while there and then moved all the way to Nairobi,” he said.
Travelling by land was also the only financially viable option during a time of uncertainty and sudden uprooting.
Nairobi: a new chapter, a new creative home
In Nairobi, Snoopy found more than safety. He discovered a vibrant filmmaking ecosystem that transformed his career.
“Being here despite the war has somehow taken my career to the next level because I'm world-connected right now, not even locally, but also around the world,” he said.
He found Kenya’s community of filmmakers to be active, supportive, and generously collaborative. It offered opportunities rarely accessible in Sudan due to years of isolation under the former regime. Nairobi opened new doors: filmmaker gatherings, workshops, artistic exchanges, and international connections that amplified his presence on a global scale. Snoopy also began connecting with Sudanese refugees in Kenya.
Through short films, documentaries, and music videos, he began to examine the emotional landscape of exile, how displaced Sudanese navigate loss, distance, and the lingering weight of war. He directed the short documentary “New Beginnings”, following three Sudanese nationals rebuilding their lives in Nairobi, and produced and directed the music video “Will Return Again,” a piece anchored in hope and the inevitability of return.
“Through my work as a filmmaker, I always wanted to establish some kind of connection with the local community. So, I did many activities, between feature film and music videos,” he said.
His message to the community was steady and heartfelt. “You are not forgotten,” he said. Through cinema, he kept a fragile thread between the displaced and their homeland alive. One of the most significant initiatives he contributed to was Aflam Sudan, a Sudanese film week in Nairobi, held on the first anniversary of the war. The event brought together Sudanese families, artists, and refugees to watch films, share grief, remember, and celebrate their identity. It was a moment of collective healing, a testament that Sudanese culture continues to thrive despite immense destruction.
"Khartoum": a film that arrived at the perfect time
Snoopy began filming “Khartoum” (2025) in Sudan shortly before the war, alongside four other directors, each portraying a different story in the capital. When the war halted production, the other filmmakers joined Snoopy in Nairobi to complete the film. The resulting feature-length documentary, released at a time when the world was trying to understand Sudan’s catastrophe, resonated deeply. It reveals the soul of pre-war and wartime Khartoum, a cosmopolitan city rich in diversity, yet simmering with unspoken tensions beneath its surface. The film’s international acclaim reflects how profoundly its story touched Sudanese and global audiences alike. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the film went on to screen at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2025, where it received the prestigious Peace Film Prize. It was later showcased at Hot Docs 2025, North America’s largest documentary festival, and also screened at the Nairobi Film Festival, further solidifying its impact across global and regional audiences.
Cinema as a lifeline and a home
Snoopy’s most intimate work is still unfolding. Over the past twenty years, Snoopy has lived through multiple displacements across several countries. These experiences have shaped his upcoming feature documentary, “Where Do I Belong?” It is a deeply emotional exploration of generational exile. The film echoes the experiences of millions around the world who have been forced to leave home and who live suspended between everywhere and nowhere.
“It depicts my personal story, but also the story of millions of people who are facing displacement. During this time, with all the wars that are happening around the world, but also this duality that we always feel like we don't belong to any place we go to,” he said.
The film begins in Nairobi, his current refuge, and traces a return journey to Sudan, where his parents live amid shifting conflict. It also explores the origins of his family, stretching from Sudan and Sri Lanka to the Middle East, examining cycles of displacement shaped by the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983), the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), and Sudan’s own conflicts (1983–2005 and 2023–present). Through these intertwined histories, the film reflects on identity, memory, and the search for a place to belong.
Snoopy travelled to Amsterdam, Cairo, Doha, and other destinations to pitch the project to funders and producers. “Where Do I Belong?” has already secured recognition from festivals in Cairo, Doha, Amman, and the Red Sea. For Snoopy, the universality of the film is unmistakable: it may be personal and Sudanese, but its emotional truth belongs to the world.
For Snoopy, filmmaking is not merely a craft. It is a lifeline, a way to preserve memory, confront loss, and reconnect fragmented identities. His camera follows him wherever conflict forces him to go. Through it, he continues the search for a place he can finally call home.
bird story agency
