Sunglasses, a perfectly tailored beige suit and an impeccable smile, the director of "Goodbye Julia", a historical drama about the relationship between North and South Sudanese, gives the feeling of being in his element.

But after a few minutes of discussion, the filmmaker no longer hides his discomfort: "While I'm on the red carpet, people are trying to flee the bombs," he told AFP.

Saturday night, at the end of the screening of the film, the emotion in the room was palpable. "I was honored, proud, happy... But I also feel guilty for being there. These are a lot of contradictory feelings," he said, adding that he was "heartbroken" by the situation in his country.

Since 15 April, the war between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, has left a thousand dead in this East African country, one of the poorest in the world, and more than a million displaced and refugees.

Stay or go?

His country, Mohamed Kordofani does not know if he will be able to find him in the near future. "Right now, I don't know where I live," he replied with a tense smile, when AFP asked him if he planned to return to live in Sudan or choose the path of exile.

Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani in Cannes on May 21, 2023 © Patricia DE MELO MOREIRA /

This aeronautical engineer by training had left everything to found his own production studio. For the past few months, he has been living and working in Lebanon. "I'm sure things will get better," he says hopefully.

"I saw people taking to the streets to protest. These people will not be content to be ruled by a dictator or an Islamist militia. The war can go on, but eventually I know it will stop."

The political reality of his country is precisely one of the subjects of his first feature film "Goodbye Julia". He looks back at the 2011 referendum that led to South Sudan's independence.

"I wanted to understand why this vote was won with almost 99% of the vote. For me, there was something unexpected," he explains.

So much for the backdrop. The rest of the story focuses on a domestic drama: a woman who suffocates in her marriage and in her life. But also a woman who caused, with her husband, the irreparable, the death of a man from the south.

Sudanese actresses Siran Riak and Eiman Yousif with director Mohamed Kordofani and producer Amjad Abu Alala, in Cannes on May 21, 2023 © LOIC VENANCE /

Entrenched racism of Sudanese in the north against those in the south, the weight of traditions and religion, the place of women in society... The filmmaker examines, without taboos, his native country. A project that was "very complicated" to lead, he says.

"The issue of funding was not easy to settle but it was above all the logistics that were heavy to manage. How do you turn when there are demonstrations and riots in the street?" he asks. "The reality of the country caught up with us very quickly even if we finally managed to adapt."

© 2023 AFP