The Sudanese film “Goodbye Julia” by director Mohamed Kordofani has won three new international awards at the 21st edition of the Paysages de Cinéastes festival in France.
The film won the Audience Award, the Youth Jury Award, and the Women’s Jury Award, sharing the latter with the “Inshallah A Boy” film. With these awards, the film has now accumulated four international awards.
It’s worth noting that the film’s journey with awards began at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it won the Freedom Award and had its world premiere.
“Goodbye Julia” received seven nominations at the Septimus International Awards held in Amsterdam on September 25th, including Best African Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, two Best African Actress nominations (for Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak), Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.
“Goodbye Julia” is expected to take its first steps in the Arab world as it competes in the long narrative films category and the Cinema for Humanity Award at the El Gouna Film Festival.
It will also have its UK premiere at the London Film Festival, with all its tickets sold out a month before the festival’s start. The film previously participated in the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival.
Since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the film has received praise and acclaim from international media outlets. Fabien Lemercier on the Cineuropa website, described it as “exploring the conflicts in his country through an intimate female story.”
News outlets described the film as a “bold display of underlying racism.” Howaida Hamdy called it “a quiet poem that attempts to unravel chronic knots and a history of bigotry and racism.”
“Goodbye Julia” is set in Khartoum just before the secession of South Sudan. It tells the story of Mona, a Northern woman who lives with her husband Akram. Mona accidentally kills a Southern man, and in an attempt to cleanse herself of guilt, she hires his wife Julia, who is searching for him, as a maid and helper in her home.
The film is directed and written by Mohamed Kordofani, who has won several awards. It is co-produced by the renowned Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala, who represented Sudan for the first time in history at the Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category with his film “You Will Die at 20” in 2020.