KHARTOUM: Standing in his dimly lit projection room, Ali al-Nur longs for the days when Sudanese filmgoers filled the rows of plush red seats below, enthralled by American blockbusters, Egyptian comedies and Bollywood extravaganzas.

The Palace of Youth and Children where Nur, 55, works is one of just three functioning cinemas left in a city of 4.6 million people.

Today few visit the squat, concrete hall, its outside plastered with sun-faded posters for the years-old Indian action films it screens.

Although Khartoum's upmarket Afra mall has a screen, the Palace is a rare survivor of the heyday of the capital's cinemas.

Many stand empty after closing their doors because of the economic hardship and government policies that followed the 1989 Islamist-backed coup that brought President Omar al-Bashir to power.