‘Goodbye Julia,’ First Film From Sudan at Cannes, Scores Substantial Sales After Winning an Un Certain Regard Prize (EXCLUSIVE)

Nick Vivarelli
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s feature debut “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan and won the Un Certain Regard section’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize) at Cannes, has scored a raft of sales following its launch.

The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes official selection, “Goodbye Julia” is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.

More from Variety

After being picked up by ARP Sélection for France just ahead of its Cannes world premiere in May, the well-received drama has now been sold by pan-Arab distributor MAD Solutions – which moved into international distribution with this title – to the following territories: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (September Film); Italy (Satine Film); Sweden (Folkets Bio); Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein (Trigon Film); Taiwan (Swallow Wings); and Australia and New Zealand (Potential Films).

In her Variety review of “Goodbye Julia” critic Jessica Kiang praised the film for being much more than “a primer for the class, ethnic and religious unrest that besets the troubled state” of Sudan, noting that “what actually transpires is far more engaging, in the vein of Asghar Farhadi, wherein a tight, high-concept moral core unravels into strands of widening, deepening social consequence.

“Goodbye Julia” is produced by Amjad Abu Alala, director of “You Will Die at Twenty,” which won Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future award for best first feature in 2019.

The two central roles are played respectively by Eiman Yousif and Sudanese supermodel Siran Riak (pictured above), making her big-screen acting debut. The cast also includes Nazar Goma and U.S.-based South Sudanese actor Ger Duany, who is known for his performances in “The Nile Hilton Incident” and “The Good Lie.”

“While we have all been overwhelmed by the huge reception the film has gotten since Cannes, we could
not be more delighted to see this special film find its way to major international distributors and markets, including to many countries that have rarely or never screened and believed in Arab films,” commented MAD Solutions co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab in a statement.

“As an Arab company we couldn’t be prouder of taking this step forward as a sales agent with such a
high-profile, boundary-pushing Arab film,” said MAD Solutions head of sales and acquisitions Meriame Deghedi.

CAA and Cairo-based Ambient Light are handling sales of “Goodbye Julia” in the U.S. and Canada.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.