User:Lilduff90/The Art of Sin

The Art of Sin (Norwegian: Kunsten å være syndig) is a 2020 Sudanese-Norwegian documentary film, written & directed by Ibrahim Mursal, chronicling a year in the life of Sudanese-Norwegian artist Ahmed Umar and his 2018 trip to Sudan after becoming the first openly gay man from the country.

Synopsis
Ahmed Umar is a successful young Sudanese artist, living and working in Norway, where he has been living for the past ten years after fleeing from Sudan. Struggling with his sexuality, Ahmed was forced to leave his home country, which is one of seven countries that still practice the death penalty for homosexuality. In Norway, Ahmed Umar has affirmed his sexual identity, becoming the first openly gay man from Sudan, he is also one of the most successful up and coming young artists, exhibiting throughout galleries in Norway, and internationally.

But despite the success, he is still missing something. In 2018 he decides to go home to reunite with his mother and his family, hoping to affirm his Sudanese identity in a country that sees him as a sinner. Film director Ibrahim Mursal follows Ahmed back home to discover if the country that he did leave will accept him, and will he meet his family again?

Production
Mursal has stated that the idea for the film came after the director, who was born in Norway to Somali parents, returned to Norway in 2013 after a very conservative upbringing in Sudan, where his family had moved in the early 1990s. Upon returning to Norway, Mursal became aquainted with Sudanse artist Ahmed Umar, who came to Norway in 2008. Production and recording for the film started in 2015, after Umar publicly came out in Facebook post, making him the first openly gay man from Sudan. This caused a massive outrage in the Sudanese community, as homosexuality is illegal in the conservative Muslim country, and at the time was still punishable by death. Mursal decided to follow Umar over a period of three years, starting soon after he came out in 2016, and culminating with him being given his Norwegian citizenship in 2019.