Sudan has submitted Mohamed Kordofani’s feature 'Goodbye Julia' for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani’s debut feature, Goodbye Julia, which received the Cannes Film Festival‘s Un Certain Regard Freedom Prize, will be released in Egyptian cinemas on October 25
The film is also set to have its Arab world premiere during the sixth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), which is scheduled to run from October 13 to 20. The film is also in the running for the GFF’s Cinema for Humanity Audience Award, an annual prize consisting of a trophy, a certificate, and a $20,000 cash reward, awarded to films with humanitarian themes.
After initially starting out as a project on the festival’s CineGouna SpringBoard, where it secured MAD Solutions’ Distribution Grant Award, 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), the film will now compete in the festival’s Feature Film Competition.
It has also been selected for the BFI London Film Festival, which will run until October 15, 2023.
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.
Goodbye Julia features Eiman Yousif, Siran Riak, Nazar Goma, and Ger Duany. The film is both written and directed by Mohamed Kordofani, with production handled by Amjad Abu Alala from Station Films in collaboration with Mohamed Al-Omda.
The film is 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).
MAD Solutions has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Goodbye Julia.
The film also received support from the Red Sea Fund, the Paris Region, ARRI, and Film und Medienstiftung NRW and won the Malmö Arab Film Festival’s award for Best Project In Development.
