From all across the elegant city of Cannes, Arab work has truly glimmered and stunned everyone from all around the group – particularly, Mohamed Kordofani’s Sudanese drama Goodbye Julia. Amongst the top fellow competitors in the cinematic field, this piece truly stood out from the rest. But how did it do so?
The buzz surrounding Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia reached a fever pitch, with the film enjoying a screening packed with VIPs, bigwigs, and media big shots at Cannes’ Théâtre Claude Debussy.
The film also received a warm standing ovation before a lively post-premiere Q&A with the cast and crew.
Goodbye Julia follows the story of Mona — a northern Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage — who is wracked by guilt after covering up a murder. In an attempt to make amends, she takes in the deceased’s southern Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home.
Unable to confess her transgressions to Julia, Mona decides to leave the past behind and adjust to a new status quo, unaware that the country’s turmoil may find its way into her home and put her face to face with her sins.
The film stars Eiman Yousif, Siran Riak — the former Ms. South Sudan — Nazar Goma, and Ger Duany, is written and directed by Kordofani, and produced by Station Films’ acclaimed Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala — the director of Sudan’s first-ever submission to the Academy Awards You Will Die at Twenty — in collaboration with producer Mohamed Al-Omda, who co-produced Yemen’s Berlin International Film Festival selection The Burdened.
A true example of Arab-European collaboration, Goodbye Julia is also co-produced by Baho Bakhsh and Safei Eldin Mahmoud (Red Star Films), Michael Henrichs (Die Gesellschaft), Khaled Awad and Mohamed Kordofani (Klozium Studios), Marc Irmer (Dolce Vita), Faisal Baltyuor (Cinewaves Films), Ali El-Arabi (Ambient Light), Adham El-Sherif (CULT), and Issraa Elkogali Häggström (RiverFlower).
Not only has Goodbye Julia shined in the festival but also the Jordanian Film Inshallah A Boy premieres to warm applause at Cannes as its first screening was full house with billboards in Cannes holding key names of Arab filmmakers and films as well!
