Cinema Africa 24/25: A Conversation with Mohamed Kordofani, director of "Goodbye Julia"
Abstract
- Abstract
- Mohamed Kordofani's critically acclaimed movie "Goodbye Julia" is his first feature film. As part of the 16th edition of Cinema Africa Kordofani came to Bayreuth to present his film to the Bayreuth public. Maryam Shojaei and Bakheit Nur had the chance to sit down with him and ask him a few questions on his career, his film and the political background that frames this extraordinary work of art.
Origins & context
- Title
- Cinema Africa 24/25: A Conversation with Mohamed Kordofani, director of "Goodbye Julia"
- Language
- English
- Date
- February 4, 2025
Identifiers & sources
Full text
- Transcript
- um hello Mr cordani thank you for being here with us tonight um we will screen your significant movie goodbye Julia here in clex byid and um I like to ask some questions about your past your career and this this uh movie but first um like a maybe a rapid introduction of yourself thank you Mariam and thank you for having me and thank you for screening the film it's always um a pleasure for me to uh screen the film to new audiences um so I'm happy to be here in b um and happy to screen the film uh my name is muhamed kurani uh I'm the writer and director of the film goodbye Julia uh uh I'm also co-producer in the film um and I made a few short films before uh but this is my first feature length film MH thank you very much um I will start with a general question uh you started your career as an aircraft engineering I think before transitioning to film making um I wanted to ask what were the key moments or influences that prompted this significant change in your career pass yes um good question um when I finished my high school I wanted to do fine arts um but I couldn't my father thought um it's not really um a job um he was okay with it being a hobby but he thought um I should get a a man's um degree uh something like engineering or or um um medicine or something like that and this is very common uh I think in in our part of the world that people don't consider Arts to be um uh a living uh job uh so I studied um aircraft engineering because um he was a pilot and he he also um after his uh retirement he ran a a small company that does air handling um so it only made sense uh if I'm not going to do what I like I I would just do something that um I can find a job in uh so I studied aircraft engineering and I started working as an aircraft engineer uh but I never really quit Arts I um uh since my first uh uh year in University I started writing and I think this is what started everything I started writing fiction stories they were short comedy stories that um nobody really read I had a loyal fan base of five people tops um and uh I they just copi these stories and distributed in the University whenever uh anybody's interested um and then I think in 2007 I picked up a hobby in photography and uh that camera the camera I bought had a video feature it was it was a Canon 5D Mark I and it had this um um video capability that really looked stunning and I just started playing with it um with the video feature and I learned editing um and it just hit me at some point that maybe I can uh transform these short stories that I used to write into films and if I do that maybe they will find more audience uh than readers um so I took a small online course um uh in independent film making and um um that's how I did my first short film it was an assignment um to do one scene with maximum of two characters in one location um and I traveled to Sudan back then I was an engineer working in gulfair in bahin and I um traveled to Sudan to shoot that one scene but I find that uh if I'm going to run through the logistics of shooting one scene might as well um make it a short film so I added a beginning and an end uh to that film um and that's how my first short film was born it was not a good film but um but it was my Gateway uh to independent film making and then I made another one right after and this one got picked up by kage Film Festival uh in Tunis one of the uh biggest film festivals in Africa and I think it's the oldest um and I went there and there I really got introduced to um International Cinema because before then I only watched Egyptian Cinema and Hollywood and maybe a bit of Bollywood but I didn't think outside of these three uh Cinema really existed but when I went there I got um introduced to a wife wide range of um ways of making films and I was completely hooked I couldn't stop ever since and in um 2020 I quit Aviation and I became a full-time uh filmmaker thank you um you talked about Sudan so let's um go a bit closer your films often explore deep social issues within Sudan and uh can you talk about where you draw your inspiration from and how you decide on the themes for your um for like showing illustrating in your films um I think each uh film is is different um but for goodbye Julia the writing of goodbye Julia started with um the revolution in Sudan MH and uh this also coincided with me um moving from bahin and going back to Sudan and really dreaming of uh a country a new country um the way um we all um hoped for in in Sudan is it's not just me it was uh it was the masses in Sudan they were calling for peace um Justice uh and a part of that is that we had to really uh look at um things like inclusion and and coexistence for us to create this dream um uh country that we want to live in uh so it's really inspired by these um um calls chants that people used to uh say in the streets and um and the other thing is that I have I have I find that I have changed quite a bit uh in the past 20 years uh and I I really wanted to um um maybe delve deeper and explore these reasons um for the reasons for these changes uh and I think it leaked into the film without me even knowing um I've written 10 drafts of the film and um and with each and every draft the film the film kept changing um and at first I know I did I didn't think I was really writing uh about myself but um with every draft you come to understand yourself better through your writing um so I think U uh the the characters in the film uh MAA Akram and Julia I I find a lot of similarities um to me um with these characters so I think it's 50/50 part part of it is how we dream of seeing Sudan and part of it is really a looking inside of me mhm okay um the next question uh what are um some of the unique challenges you face as a filmmaker in Sudan and how do you navigate these challenges to tell your stories oh wow there's uh plenty of challenges that we can go through uh but in the history of Sudan I think we have less than 10 feature film uh at least fiction feature films so there is really no infrastructure in Sudan for Cinema so uh everything you do is you're doing it from scratch you're not really utilizing any uh available system or available resources you're you're doing everything from scratch um we have to ship equipment uh from Egypt and from Germany actually uh Ari was kind enough to sponsor uh the film and send us um a camera and grip gear and for the lights we had to bring them from Egypt um the post- production has been entirely done outside of uh Sudan um the editing has been done in Egypt and the color grading has been done here in Germany um the acting um the two lead actors are not um actors uh so um we had a coach come from uh Egypt uh um actress Sal Muhammad Ali came from Egypt and trained the actors um so everything you you have to really uh look for ways to overcome these uh challenges um but at the end of the day I think um a big part of the success of the execution of the production was a result of um local Sudanese people who were really uh passionate um uh about film making and wanted to learn We There is a hunger in um the young um filmmakers in Sudan to uh learn more and also the film in a way was um um part of the Revolution to most of the crew uh and the cast that are in the film so um this really helped us because when we started uh the shooting of the film this was during a military coup in Sudan and there was a lot of um protests and um uh the um security forces would usually block roads and bridges so we cannot get from one place to another and if it wasn't for the passion and dedication of the crew I don't think we would have been able to uh shoot the film we have managed to shoot everything in 34 shooting days in a span of 40 or 42 days so um it's really for me it's really uh amazing how how this crew managed to um to shoot everything so um yeah I think so PL plenty of challenges yes um this movie Good by Julia has been well received internationally and uh could you highlight some of the key Milestones that this movie has achieved during its screening at various um festivals yeah it has been a wonderful uh Journey uh and I I feel uh grateful uh to so many milestones in it uh I think it all started with uh can film festival uh picking the film and winning their uh the freedom prize um this has allowed the film to really uh Tour the World um another Milestone I think when the film was doing the Oscar campaign um in in USA um lupan yongo the Oscar winner actress uh joined the film as an executive producer and this really gave the film um a lot of exposure uh in the states and I think worldwide um the film also won uh the John renoa award in in France which is awarded by the Ministry of Education there and which includes the film um in the curriculum for uh high school students um in in France this was really um um a unique moment and special moment for me because um I also I always felt like um maybe I'm not doing the right thing because uh I never really studied Cinema I as you said I studied aircraft engineering so I at times I felt like I don't know what I'm doing and maybe I'm doing the wrong thing uh and it's moments like these when your film is really is included in in in the curriculum curriculum for Cinema you you really stop to appreciate uh A Moment Like This I think um a highlight for me also is um the screening in in South Sudan uh that was yeah was a special day thank you hi my name is B I'm a post in Africa multiple clust of Excellence uh University of broid we're happy uh to have you here in broid and I want to ask you if few questions this question will be a continuation of what miam was asking and this will be mainly about uh political aspect of uh of the film so goodbye Julia uh for me is very interesting uh film and it is also thought provoking that reflect a multi-dimensional uh Power relation uh the film tells the story of a country uh to fall apart by endless Wars uh violence brutality um the film explore also the issue of power a symmetri racial uh Prejudice uh between the North and South uh before the secession of South Sudan uh and it is independent in 200 11 so the film highlight uh Arab uh Supremacy uh the imposition of uh select kind of uh Islamic interpretation uh during the islamist regime uh it also address the question of uh entanglement between corruption uh racism discrimination partiality and ethnic uh chauvinism uh in the midst of which uh the most barbaric crimes are buried without a sense of guilt and uh their pet trators are set free without uh accountability because of their uh ethnic uh belonging uh and I think goodbye Julia uh is also about androcentric policing and facade religiousity that's devoid of uh wisdom and sense of humanity it deals partly with the issue of uh interface dialogue uh challenge in uh the common assumption in the nor that the country is Islamic uh and therefore other religions are uh ex included so goodbye Julia challenged that narrative and um uh it also challenge islamist hostility toward Christianity and other uh religions and gives uh voices to other uh religion uh so it reflect uh diverse religious uh landscape in Sudan so I want to ask you a few questions about uh the scope of the film because this what I see like the scope of the film is very broad covering uh different subjects and I want to ask when you first uh start to write up a concept node of the film uh what was the first subject you intended to address uh and why thank you bit and pleasure to meet you here it's always a pleasure to meet the fellow Sudanese outside of Sudan um and um appreciate very much the in-depth look that you have in the film um and rightfully so uh the film does cover uh plenty of aspects and themes because I think the uh situation in Sudan is very complex I think the first thing that I had in mind when I uh started writing the film and which was in my first concept note and remained throughout uh until I made the film was the the thought of um inclusion and coexistence and the fear that another part of Sudan will succeed if we don't do something about it um in my head um regions like that for like new Mountain like Blue Nile these all regions all suffered from uh these prejudices and um I think we had to have um uh discussion and a dialogue uh as Sudanese people to overcome these things I think our main issue has started since the independence of Sudan in 1956 um I I think it is an issue of a national identity that has we have never uh solved um we have tried to make Sudan um represent itself as an Arab islamist Nation although there's a plenty of people who are not Arabs and plenty of people who are not Muslims but we try to enforce that um uh identity on the country and this has um ignited war after War since since uh uh 191 in 1955 this uh I think was due to that reason and then again um in 1983 and then again in uh darur we these issues has always uh been about uh Center and periphery or about um African and Arab or about uh so on and so forth so um this is what I tempted to do uh with this film is to um have uh characters from uh two opposing sides in this particular case it was North and South but I think it's also applicable to other uh regions and I think it's a it's um uh a way to bridge um two uh different sites and allowed audience particularly Sudanese audience uh um to see the other uh in a new lens and to understand them and um and eventually maybe uh reconcile once they get to uh know them thank you very much uh in the last three decades uh uh Cinema and far struction in Sudan has very much deteriorated uh because the regime was not in favor of uh of the cinema and this very much impact uh film Industries uh movie making and different other aspects uh of of of cultural uh uh of cultural uh aspect so I want to ask how do you find audience in Sudan since the infr structure is very much detate it and there um I I don't know if I can find audience um uh audience usually find the film uh in in our case uh we were lucky enough that the film has generated some International Buzz that it has become uh widely talked about in in Sudan and on social media um and it also the release of the film coincided with the War uh the war ignited in on the 15th of April uh and the film announcement to be part of can was on was just 3 days before the war so this coincidence really um in a way helped the film unfortunately um people were so nostalgic to um see something about Sudan seeum so uh and there was an influx of uh refugees who moved out of uh Sudan to Egypt so by the time the film um hit uh was released in theaters in Egypt um there there was already a lot of people in uh in Egypt Sudanese people in Egypt who were queuing to watch the film um and we've uh expanded from I think three or four independent cinema halls to around 30 because there was a high demand for the film in Egypt um and because it was well received and then uh talked about but uh you mentioned the the islamist regime uh systematically uh destroying the cinema this uh did not only affect um uh the level of difficulty finding audience but also uh crew and cast thank you very much for this uh thorough answers and we will have a further discussion when the film is uh displayed thank you very much thank you for having me buy thank you