In the lead-up to the secession of South Sudan, Mona (Eiman Yousif), a well-to-do retired singer from the North, becomes complicit in hushing up the murder of a Southerner at the hands of her overtly prejudiced husband (Nazar Gomaa). Guilt-ridden about her role in catalyzing this turn of events, Mona hires the victim’s unknowing widow Julia (Siran Riak) as her live-in maid in a secret bid at making amends. Whilst a complicated friendship blooms between the two women, the threat of discovery looms ever-present.
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Freedom Prize, Mohamed Kordofani’s artfully composed drama made history this year as the first-ever Sudanese feature to play in Cannes. A sensitive and unflinching examination of the fraught relationship between Sudan’s Arab North and non-Arab South, Goodbye Julia weaves a thoroughly engaging tale of deceit and self-revelation, charting its protagonists’ gradual awakening to the social inequities and inherited legacy of racism that would motivate an entire nation to vote almost unanimously for its separation.
Freedom Prize, Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2023
A prizewinner in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, Mohamed Kordofani’s well-performed deep cut into Sudan’s recent history unfolds like a morality thriller.
Variety
Media Partner
Eiman Yousif, Siran Riak, Nazar Goma, Ger Duany, Stephanos James Peter
Sudan
2023
Panorama
In Arabic with English subtitles
Graphic Violence, Racial Violence
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Producer
Amjad Abu Alala, Mohamed Omda, Ali Alarabi
Screenwriter
Mohamed Kordofani
Cinematography
Pierre de Villiers
Editor
Heba Othman
Production Design
Issa Kandil
Original Music
Mazin Hamid
Director
Mohamed Kordofani
Mohamed Kordofani is a Sudanese filmmaker. His debut feature film, Goodbye Julia, won the Freedom Prize after its International Premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival. For his other works, he has also won the NAAS Award for best Arab film at Carthage Film Festival (JCC), The Jury Award at Oran International Arab Film Festival and The Arnone-Belavite Peligrini Award at FCAAA in Milan.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Teacher
In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...
Bob Trevino Likes It
When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...
The Encampments
When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.
Shepherds
Mathyas quits his marketing job in Montreal and goes to France with the romantic notion of becoming a shepherd. He's in for a rude awakening... Based on a true story, Deraspe's stirring film plays spiritual uplift off against some 3000 sheep and a donkey.
Our Lady of the Nile
Veronica and Virginia are inseparable friends at an elite Catholic boarding school, Our Lady of the Nile, but what binds them together is the very thing that separates them forever. We are in Rwanda, 1973, and tribal tensions are simmering ominously.
Faces
Ten years after his landmark debut, Shadows, John Cassavetes returned to the indie model, self-financing this wrenching portrait of the sexual mores and miseries of American middle class. Gena Rowlands is luminous as Jeannie, the film's emotional barometer.