In His New Short Film ‘Is It War?’ Timeea Mohamed Reflects on Existence in Exile

But Ahmed, whose films mostly explore themes of conflict, identity, and cultural resilience, has not finished advocating for and raising awareness about Sudan. "There is so much left to say," he tells OkayAfrica ahead of the screening of his experimental short film Is It War? at the 32nd New York African Film Festival on May 24, 2025. "There are so many stories and perspectives, and [I want to] send a clearer, more direct message to the Sudanese people regardless of their political affiliation or opinion."

The trailer for Is It War? is launching on OkayAfrica after its world premiere at the French Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in February. While Khartoum speaks through its remarkable protagonists, one of whom also stars in Is It War?, this short film expresses Ahmed's personal emotional experience with the conflict.

"I stayed in Khartoum for almost six months under the shelling and wrote this film there," he says. "It was perhaps a poetry piece, and I don't even write poetry. When I wrote, I was unsure if I would ever share it with anyone or if I would die before finishing. I never considered making it a real film when I was shooting random stuff around the house in Khartoum, mostly denying the war in my thoughts, asking questions, and being a little surrealist. I needed to go crazy."

He turned this "craziness" into an experimental exploration of the pain, turmoil, and uncertainty people who are made refugees go through: A man in a forest in the middle of Nairobi, wearing a white jalabiya and a beige tie, navigates the surrealism of war and the chaos of his inner world. Like Ahmed, he has become a member of the diaspora and struggles to grasp the reality of this circumstance, which the viewers glimpse in symbolically charged scenes and subtle animation.