Salma Abusamra
Two Sudanese women in ochre and marigold tobes walking along a rocky ridge under an open sky. A frame from the documentary Survivors.
A woman in a deep red tobe resting on a sofa in warm lamplight. A frame from the short film Quronful.
Two women in red and pink tobes sit facing each other on the sandy ground of a narrow lane between weathered brick walls. The image on the poster of Recoiling Memory of Home.

Filmmaker · Photographer · Storyteller

Salma Abusamra

Sudanese filmmaker and photographer, living in Berlin. For over a decade I have been telling stories of women, of resilience and of what it means to belong, in the place where art meets advocacy.

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Selected work

Films and projects

Short fiction, documentary and digital storytelling. Three works that show the range of what I do.

A young woman with red lipstick puts on an earring, her eyes closed. A frame from My Way.

Short film 8 min 2026

My Way

A young actress is torn between society's expectations, her mother's control and her own desires. Searching for who she is, she has to find the courage to choose her own way.
A painted sunset over a river, with a pyramid and a camel. From Blue Nile Stories.

Digital museum 2025

Blue Nile Stories

A multilingual digital museum about the river, memory and Sudanese identity, which I created and designed within the research and arts project AQUAMUSE.
A girl in a red dress on a swing in warm evening light. A frame from Survivors.

Documentary 47 min 2022

Survivors

Four Sudanese women whose paths keep crossing, and whose journeys through oppression and resilience show how survival turns into strength.

See all my work

A street mural in Sudan: a woman in profile with long dark hair and a gold earring calls out, her shoulder painted in the colours of the Sudanese flag. Red handprints are pressed into the wall beside her.

The line I work by

A woman’s voice is a revolution.

Someone painted these words on a wall in Sudan. My work keeps finding its way back to them.

Mural, Sudan, 2021

Salma Abusamra in a red top and a long cream scarf, smiling in front of a wall of sponsor logos.

About me

Images that bear witness

Sudanese photographer, filmmaker and visual storyteller, living in Berlin. Working across photography and film, I explore identity, migration, memory and belonging, with a particular focus on the experiences of women navigating displacement and social transformation.

  • Sudanese Filmmaking Association
  • Sudanese Human Rights Monitor

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Commissions & screenings

Let’s make something together

I direct documentaries, and I shoot and photograph for festivals, broadcasters, cultural institutions and international organisations. If there is a story you care about, I would love to hear it.

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