Cotton Queen, the debut feature by Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani, is a tender yet powerful coming-of-age drama. The film is a feature-length sequel to her short film Al-Sit and centres on Nafisa, a teenager in a Sudanese village raised on her grandmother's tales of anti-colonial resistance, who awakens to her own power when a businessman's arrival threatens her village's future.
In a Sudanese cotton-farming village, teenage Nafisa lives with her grandmother Al-Sit, the village matriarch, listening to her heroic tales of resistance and liberation against British colonisers. When a young businessman returns from abroad with samples of genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes caught at the centre of a power play over the village's future, between tradition and modernity. Determined to save the cotton fields, Nafisa slowly awakens to her own power, transforming herself and her community.
Cotton Queen offers historical and present-day context on Sudan's cotton production, and is T A P E's third title championing Sudanese stories, following their 2025 releases of Sudan, Remember Us (Hind Meddeb) and non-theatrical screenings of Khartoum (collectively made by Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Anas Saeed, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, and Phil Cox).
