Goodbye Julia

Goodbye Julia tells the story of two women who represent the complicated relationship and differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities. It takes place in Khartoum during the last years of Sudan as a united country, shortly before the 2011 separation of South Sudan. Mona, an upper-middle-class former popular singer from the North, who lives with her husband Akram, seeks to attenuate her feelings of guilt for causing the death of a Southern man by employing Julia, his unsuspecting widow, as her maid.[4]

• Eiman Yousif as Mona
• Siran Riak as Julia
• Nazar Gomaa as Akram
• Ger Duany as Majier

Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani lives in Bahrain and works as an aviation engineer. A largely self-taught filmmaker, he was distinguished as best director with the SudaneseTaharqa International Award for Arts for his 2015 short film Gone for Gold. His second short film, Nyerkuk (2016),[5] received several distinctions, including the Network of Alternative Arab Screens (NAAS) Award at the Carthage Film Festival, the Jury Award at the Oran International Arabic Film Festival, and the Black Elephant Award of the Sudan Independent Film Festival.[6][7]

Among other project development grants, the film received support from the Beirut-based Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC),[8] the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, the Swedish Malmö Arab Film Festival[9] and the Red Sea Fund in Saudi Arabia.[10]

Main roles were played by Sudanese singer and actress Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak, a former Miss South Sudan and fashion model born in today's South Sudan, who never before acted in a film.[11][12] - Commenting on the social context of his film, Kordofani said

“The racism that was practiced for many decades from most Northern Arabs, government and people, was a major reason for the southerners choosing to secede.[13] I consider Goodbye Julia a call for reconciliation and a spotlight on the social dynamics that led to the separation of the South."[7]

The film was produced by Dubai-born and -based film director and screenwriter Amjad Abu Alala, whose 2019 drama film You Will Die at Twenty won the Lion of the Future Award for best debut film at the Venice Film Festival as well as the Golden Star for best narrative film at the El Gouna Film Festival. Further, this film was Sudan's first ever submission to the Academy Awards.[11]

Owing to challenging political conditions and lack of infrastructure for cinematography, shooting of the scenes took 40 days from 6 November to 15 December 2022. The musical score by Sudanese musician Mazin Hamid was recorded during ongoing clashes between the military and civil society in Khartoum.[14] In an interview with NPR network, Kordofani talked about his personal experience as a northern Sudanese with the discriminaton towards southerners, his feeling of guilt and motivation to make this film just before the outbreak of the devastating military conflict that started on 15 April 2023.[15]

Goodbye Julia premiered with an audience of 1,000 spectators on 20 May 2023 in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The screening and the following post-premiere Q&A with the cast and crew, including comments on the ongoing 2023 Sudan conflict, received standing ovations.[16] Further, Goodbye Julia was also invited to international film festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival, Karlovy Vary, Melbourne[17][18][19] and the Warsaw Film Festival.[20]

In September 2023, Goodbye Julia was nominated as Sudan's candidate for Best International Feature Film at the 96 Academy Awards.[21]

Reviews of the premiere have been largely positive, highlighting the film's dramatic storytelling of personal relationships before a wider social and historical background. Writing for Cineuropa portal, film critic Fabien Lemercier said: "Mohamed Korfani offers up wonderful snapshots, overviews and explanations of all the nuances of the acute Sudanese situation of the time. [...] It makes for a film of impeccable quality, marking the birth of an incredibly promising filmmaker and confirming the emergence of a 7th art in Sudan."[22]

In a similar way, the Hollywood Reporter wrote:

Goodbye Julia will bring to life Sudanese issues for audiences. Kordofani’s fine direction balances the film’s multiple modes: It’s a drama, with shades of a thriller and a sense of its own politics. With its classic, accessible style, Goodbye Julia will surely rally more support for the cinema of Sudan, a nation full of stories that need to be told about its past and present.

— Lovia Gyarkye, ‘Goodbye Julia’ Review: An Operatic Drama Nimbly Tackles the Story of a Fractured Sudan, The Hollywood Reporter [23]

In her review for Variety magazine, Jessica Kiang wrote:[24]

Telling the story of a fraught friendship between two very different women, Kordofani’s intelligent, compassionate scripting ensures that the political never overwhelms the personal. [...] Both women are equally flattered by Pierre de Villiers’s warm, close-up-rich photography, but Julia remains the less well-developed. Then again, despite her relative poverty and being on the sharp end of every -ism (colorism, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism) that bedevils Khartoum at this moment in time, Julia has from the outset the freer spirit; it is Mona who is most in need of change.

— Jessica Kiang, Two Women Forge a Connection Across Devastating Divides in an Engrossing Sudanese Drama, Variety magazine, June 2023

In her review for BBC News, Shereen Sherief praised both the film's scenario and photography and gave special credit to the soundtrack as well as to the two main actresses, who "explore the deep-seated tensions and divisions that resulted in the split of Sudan."[25]

What makes Goodbye Julia truly remarkable is the level of artistry exhibited throughout the film. It is astonishing to think that this is Mohammed Kurdafani's directorial debut, especially considering his lack of formal training in cinema. The high standards of craftsmanship are evident in every frame, from the visually stunning cinematography to the nuanced performances by the cast.

— Shereen Sherief, BBC News, ‘’Goodbye Julia’’ makes history in Cannes 76

In Cairo, Wael Khairy, editor of SceneNow website, praised the "emotional punch and [...] nuanced insights of the disturbing racism that Southerners endure on a daily basis." Despite this, he also wrote that "The opening scenes in Khartoum are filmed with the tension of a ticking time bomb, but as it approaches the second and third acts, it stumbles and treads familiar ground."[26]

• Prix de la Liberté (Freedom Award) at 2023 Cannes Film Festival[27]

• Best African Film at 2023 Septimius Awards, The Netherlands[28]
• Submitted as Sudanese entry in Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards[3]

• Cinema of Sudan

• Goodbye Julia at IMDb
• Press kit from Cannes Festival with pictures and information about the director, actors etc.
• Interview in Variety magazine with Mohamed Kordofani about his film and the 2023 fighting in Sudan
• Interview for NPR network with Mohamed Kordofani about his personal experience and motivation for the film (text and sound file for listening)