Sudanese actress and singer Iman Youssef (French)

Sudanese actress and singer Iman Youssef experienced a rare paradox. While she was witnessing the fulfillment of her dream and the dream of any actor in the world by showing “Goodbye Julia” on the screen of the Cannes Film Festival in France, her house in Sudan was attacked and its contents looted. Despite the depth of the pain, the artist did not stop. Sudanese about the dream of the Sudan that was.

The heroine of the movie “Goodbye, Julia” chose to present a different artistic form after the film, which achieved great success, as she presented to her fans the song “Where is the Dream,” in which she expressed the pain of the Sudanese people who suffer from the scourge of war.

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But Iman Youssef admits in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that she was not only affected by the events in Sudan during the preparation of her song “Where is the Dream,” but also by the war waged by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip.

What prompted you to submit a song in this environment and how was it implemented?

The idea began because of the bad conditions in Sudan, and the departure of the Sudanese from Khartoum to nearby cities to settle there and the continued attack and seizure of those cities, and thus the situation worsened, in addition to what is happening in Palestine.

Before writing the song, I was looking at pictures of the children of Gaza and following the situation, and I felt great pain for them and the violence they are exposed to. The children of Gaza and the children of Sudan stopped learning, and their lives stopped, but the question was always nagging at me, which is: How are children at this age exposed to all this horror? !

And from here the question began, “Where is it?” meaning when what is happening will end and they will live in safe homes and a safe life. For me, the song is a reflection of my feelings towards the Sudan crisis, but it is also a message directed to politicians in the whole world regarding what is happening in Gaza and the Arab world.

I started writing words that made me feel psychologically comfortable and recovering from what was happening, and I started composing the song, which was distributed by artist Mazen Hamed.

At that time, I felt that as much as I wanted to convey a message about the extent of the suffering we are experiencing, there must also be hope, even if we are frustrated.

The song raises a question about the current situation, and when will we return to the homeland and rebuild it?!

You sang in “Goodbye Julia.” Do you introduce yourself as a singer, in addition to acting?

Before the film, I performed a Sudanese song, but my focus was on the ancient oriental singing of Umm Kulthum, Fairouz, Abdel Halim Hafez and Warda, while memorizing their titles, so I sang in embassies and cultural days in Sudan.

Although my studies are far from singing, as I graduated in business administration at the University of Khartoum and then a master’s degree in project management, I learned the qanun instrument at the Oud House in Khartoum at the hands of law professor Diaa Hafez.

I also studied in the voice department with the Egyptian professor Amal Ibrahim. Since childhood, I used to sing in school and founded the university choir, but I treated singing as a means of entertaining myself.

In cinema - unlike song - there is a strong and clear awakening of the new generation. What is the reason for this cinematic revival?

The cinematic situation has become encouraging, especially after the success of “Goodbye, Julia.” However, in the past, there was a state of distrust due to poor production, which is what is happening in musical productions now.

But the movie “Goodbye Julia” gave a strong impetus to young filmmakers to continue working on their films, especially since it is an appropriate period to express ourselves with all freedom and away from the oppression and injustice we live in, which is the least that the Sudanese people should do.

If we saw “Goodbye Julia” as an example of the success that an artistic work can achieve for the entire industry, we believed in its success, but we did not expect this great success and the continuation of winning awards, and it certainly made us happy, but for Sudan it is great pride at a time when people need hope. .

I always say to the wonderful director, Mohamed Kordofani, that the film was presented with a high level of seriousness and responsibility. We were keen to comply, even though it was filmed during the period of daily demonstrations. We were forced to arrange the filming schedule around the demonstrations, to avoid any kind of delay in filming, and to proceed in accordance with... The specific plan.

It was reported that your house in Khartoum was attacked during the screening of your film in Cannes. What is the truth about the matter?

How did these events shape and impact your life?

All the houses in Khartoum were attacked and seized, and the house and my musical instruments were actually seized. As is the case in most houses, we are dealing with forces that do not understand the beauty in the Sudanese people, and at that time we moved to Cairo.

When I came to travel to the Cannes Film Festival, I was already in Egypt at the time, but my father was the only one who insisted on staying in Khartoum, and he is still in Sudan. He recently moved to the city of Shendi, north of Khartoum, and we cannot communicate with him permanently due to the internet outage in Sudan. We hope that the situation will stabilize in Sudan.

Despite our good reception in Egypt, the kind treatment, our lack of feeling of alienation among the Egyptians, and the great hospitality, the feeling of losing the homeland remains a challenge.

Source: Al Jazeera