Almost seven years after South Sudan became independent, we look back at the high expectations citizens had for their new nation through the eyes of a documentary, Our Bright Stars, directed by Frederique Cifuentes and Sidi Moctar Khaba.

South Sudan became the world’s newest country as it broke away from the north and declared itself the Republic of South Sudan in July 2011. The dream of independence became a reality. Now come the challenges of building a nation from scratch.

Our Bright Stars is an intimate and emotional documentary on how South Sudanese see themselves as citizens and how they hope to begin constructing a new sense of national identity and nationhood.

The film shows South Sudanese expectations of the new nation and how they intend to contribute to the process of nation-building.

This documentary is specifically dedicated to those individuals called Returnees, Refugees and Internationally Displaced People, who start a new life for a second time.

Our Bright Stars was featured during the dialogue Understanding South Sudan: Questions of Knowledge and Representation, held at the LSE on the 30 November 2017.

This project was part of the British Council’s International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 (21 June – 23 September 2012); a global gathering of cultural projects that investigate architecture and design from across the world, presented for the London 2012 Festival.

Genre: Documentary / Society
Duration: 1 x 45’
Client: British Council UK
Directors: Frederique Cifuentes & Sidi Moctar Khaba

The views expressed in this post are those of the author and in no way reflect those of the Africa at LSE blog, the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa or the London School of Economics and Political Science.