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 wife, as her maid.[2]

• 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 Taharqa International Award for Arts for his 2015 short film Gone for Gold. His second short film, Nyerkuk (2016),[3] 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.[4][5]

Among other project development grants, the film received support from the Beirut-based Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC),[6] the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, the Swedish Malmö Arab Film Festival[7] and the Red Sea Fund in Saudi Arabia.[8]

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.[9][10] - 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.[11] I consider Goodbye Julia a call for reconciliation and a spotlight on the social dynamics that led to the separation of the South."[5]

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 and was Sudan's first ever submission to the Academy Awards.[9]

• Cinema of Sudan

• Goodbye Julia at IMDb
• Press kit from Cannes Festival with pictures and information about the director, actors etc.
• Interview with Mohamed Kordofani about his film and the 2023 fighting in Sudan