Sudanese Director Mohamed Kordofani Talks Cannes Title ‘Goodbye Julia’; Learning From History & Determination To Show Film Back Home – Deadline Q&A
10.05.2023 - 15:59
/ deadline.com
Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia will make history in Cannes this year as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival across its 76 editions.
Director Mohamed Kordofani belongs to a wave of filmmakers that emerged in the wake of Sudan’s 2019 revolution, ending the 30-year rule of dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Efforts to build a civil democracy have since stalled following a military coup in October 2021 led by General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhani, although pro-democracy activists had continued to protest until recently.
The rift between al-Burhani and rival General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has dealt a fresh blow as their respective forces clash in Khartoum, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee in recent weeks
Goodbye Julia is not focused on Sudan’s recent history, but rather on events leading up to the 2011 South Sudan Independence referendum, in which 99% of the Southerners polled voted in favor of the region seceding from the north.
The vote followed decades of conflict between the suppressed Black mainly Christian population of the south and the ruling Arab Muslim population of the north.
A dozen years later, Kordofani explores the roots of the schism through the tale of a singer from the north (Mona) who tries to make amends for her role in the killing of a man from the south by hiring his widow as a maid (Julia) and paying for the education of her son, without revealing her connection to the crime. Watch the trailer here
Kordofani talked to Deadline about the making of the film and his hopes for the work ahead of its Cannes world premiere in Un Certain Regard.
DEADLINE: What drew you to making a film about this particular episode in Sudan’s history?
MOHAMED KORDOFANI: It was shocking to me that a