Sudanese production walks away with the Press Jury and Audience awards at The War on Screen festival, the only film festival that offers a reflection on the conflict and its consequences.
Mohamed Kordofani’s debut Sudanese drama feature Goodbye Julia recently won two more awards at the War on Screen Film Festival, going home with the Press Jury and Audience awards.
The widely praised and acclaimed title, a laureate of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard Freedom Prize, has been selected to be Sudan’s official submission for Best Foreign Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards. It is expected to be released in Egyptian theaters on October 25, 2023; just a few weeks after its Arab World premiere the eagerly anticipated sixth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival, which will be running from October 13 to 20, 2023.
The film also recently won Best African Film at the Septimius Awards, where it was also in the running for Best African Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Soundtrack. Additionally, it is currently screening at the ongoing BFI London Film Festival which ends on October 15, 2023.
Before that, Goodbye Julia was featured at the Horizons Section of the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and enjoyed widespread popularity and packed screenings after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Freedom Prize.
Goodbye Julia stars Eiman Yousif, former Ms. South Sudan Siran Riak, Nazar Goma, and Ger Duany. It 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.
An example of Arab-European collaboration, the film 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). Additionally, MAD Solutions is handling the film’s worldwide sales.
Previously, Goodbye Julia won MAD Solutions’ Grant Award at the CineGouna SpringBoard that was held at the fourth El Gouna Film Festival, Best Film Project in the Development Phase ($15,000), a certificate from the El Gouna Cinema Platform, a Mentorship Prize from the IEFTA, and the New Century Prize ($10,000). It also won the Malmö Arab Film Festival’s award for Best Project In Development and received financial support from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund, the Paris Region, ARRI, and Film und Medienstiftung NRW.
