El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) has announced the selection of the Sudanese film "Good bye Julia" for its premiere in the Middle East and North Africa, as part of the sixth edition of the festival, which is supposed to be held next October after the postponement of the session for a year.
According to a statement issued by the festival's management, the film "Goodbye Julia", by Sudanese author and director Mohamed Kordofani, will be screened during the next session, after being screened in the coming days at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where the film is receiving great interest from industry leaders.
Festival director Enteshal Tamimi commented on the selection of the film, in statements to local websites, that he is "happy to screen the Sudanese film in El Gouna, especially since Mohamed Kordofani is a talented director and has made a strong film that invites reflection and the film will resonate with viewers around the world."
The film's producer, Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala, who won the El Gouna Golden Star in a previous edition for his film "You Will Die at Twenty", commented on the choice of the film, saying, "I am delighted to return to the El Gouna Festival with Goodbye Julia, Mohamed Kordofani is a very capable director and his film captures a human experience."
Political crisis in a humanitarian framework
The film revolves around a retired singer living in northern Sudan, who hosts a woman named Julia, the widow of a South Sudanese man.
Through social and human life, the film raises the question of whether the conflict between North and South is political or racist.
The film received support from El Gouna Festival, Afaq Arabia, Red Sea Festival and many other festivals.
Two weeks ago, Amjad Abu Ala revealed on the sidelines of a seminar in Cairo that the film's heroine, Iman Youssef, is stuck at the crossing in the desert after the recent events in Sudan, where she is supposed to attend the Cannes Film Festival.
Strong comeback
The announcement of the Sudanese film "Goodbye Julia" as the first film within the screenings of El Gouna Film Festival comes in an attempt to prove the strong presence of the festival once again, in conjunction with the announcement of the joining of film critic Ahmed Shawky to take over the task of the CineGouna platform after working for years as deputy artistic director at the Cairo Film Festival, in addition to the announcement of the joining of critic Andrew Mohsen as one of the programmers of the sixth session of El Gouna after his work as coordinator of the artistic office at the Cairo Festival as well, and this comes after the apology of the programmers of the El Gouna Festival About the work, including the critic Muhammad Tariq.
El Gouna Festival is currently being restructured to appear with a different team from the past five editions after the withdrawal of director Amir Ramsis, who was the artistic director of the festival for years, and artist Bushra Razza, who has been in charge of the festival's operations since its inception.
In the past five editions, El Gouna Film Festival has been able to achieve a strong presence in the Arab region, both in terms of films and participating stars from around the world.