‘Goodbye Julia,’ First Film From Sudan at Cannes, Scores Strong Sales – ArtidlLife
Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s function debut “Goodbye Julia,” a well timed morality story that takes place simply earlier than the 2011 secession of South Sudan and received the Un Sure Regard part’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize) at Cannes, has scored a raft of gross sales following its launch.
The primary Sudanese movie ever to display screen in Cannes official choice, “Goodbye Julia” is the story of two girls — one from the North, the opposite from the South — who’re introduced collectively by destiny in a posh relationship that makes an attempt to reconcile variations between northern and southern Sudanese communities within the at present war-ravaged nation.
After being picked up by ARP Sélection for France simply forward of its Cannes world premiere in Might, the well-received drama has now been bought by pan-Arab distributor MAD Options – which moved into worldwide distribution with this title – to the next territories: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (September Movie); Italy (Satine Movie); Sweden (Folkets Bio); Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein (Trigon Movie); Taiwan (Swallow Wings); and Australia and New Zealand (Potential Movies).
In her Selection overview of “Goodbye Julia” critic Jessica Kiang praised the movie for being way more than “a primer for the category, ethnic and spiritual unrest that besets the troubled state” of Sudan, noting that “what really transpires is way extra participating, within the vein of Asghar Farhadi, whereby a decent, high-concept ethical 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 received Venice Movie Pageant’s Lion of the Future award for greatest first function in 2019.
The 2 central roles are performed respectively by Eiman Yousif and Sudanese supermodel Siran Riak (pictured above), making her big-screen appearing debut. The forged additionally consists of Nazar Goma and U.S.-based South Sudanese actor Ger Duany, who is understood for his performances in “The Nile Hilton Incident” and “The Good Lie.”
“Whereas we’ve all been overwhelmed by the large reception the movie has gotten since Cannes, we might
not be extra delighted to see this particular movie discover its strategy to main worldwide distributors and markets, together with to many international locations which have hardly ever or by no means screened and believed in Arab movies,” commented MAD Options co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab in an announcement.
“As an Arab firm we couldn’t be prouder of taking this step ahead as a gross sales agent with such a
high-profile, boundary-pushing Arab movie,” stated MAD Options head of gross sales and acquisitions Meriame Deghedi.
CAA is dealing with gross sales of “Goodbye Julia” within the U.S. and Canada.
