Sudanese Director Mohamed Kordofani Talks Cannes Title ‘Goodbye Julia’; Learning From History & Determination To Show Film Back Home – Deadline Q&A

Jessica Kiang With conflict currently erupting in Sudan, one could be forgiven for approaching Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” which takes place in Khartoum during the six years prior to the 2011 secession of South Sudan, as a worthy, topical history lesson. And it certainly does have merit as a primer for the class, ethnic and religious unrest that besets the troubled state. But what actually transpires is far more engaging, in the vein of Asghar Farhadi, wherein a tight, high-concept moral core unravels into strands of widening, deepening social consequence. Telling the story of a fraught friendship between two very different women, Kordofani’s intelligent, compassionate scripting ensures that the political never overwhelms the personal. Yet it also illuminates just how well the fault lines that divide a nation can map onto the rifts within a human heart divided against itself. 

Jane Fonda took a pretty dramatic step to make sure that director Justine Triet didn’t forget her Palm d’Or award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Broadway designer Dane Laffrey and director Michael Arden often dive into conversations about projects long before a show is greenlit. Says Laffrey, who is nominated for best scenic design for “A Christmas Carol,” “We are extensively consistent collaborators.” Having worked on shows including “Once on This Island” and the Broadway revival of “Parade” — about the lynching of Jewish American Leo Frank in 1915 — the two often discuss visual research and organizing space through “snatches of conversations.” For “Parade,” which earned Arden a Tony nod for best direction of a musical, the duo was looking at visual reference points and political rallies from the period. Says Laffrey, “We looked at grandstands or viewing stands, and things that were constructed hastily. There were also contemporary reference points from Jan. 6, touch points that mean something to us because then they will mean something to an audience.”

UK director Molly Manning Walker’s first film How To Have Sex won the top prize in Cannes Un Certain Regard on Friday evening.

Uk director Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex won the top prize in Cannes Un Certain Regard on Friday evening.

EXCLUSIVE: Sophie Holland has been among the UK’s busier casting directors in recent years. The London-based professional has worked on shows including The Witcher, Wednesday, You and The Continental, as well as upcoming movies such as Heads Of State with Priyanka Chopra and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel. Set up seven years ago, her company Sophie Holland Casting now has a headcount of five.

Chinese actress Zhou Dongyu, who is in Cannes with Anthony Chen’s Un Certain Regard title The Breaking Ice, has had a fairytale career trajectory. 

“Isn’t it weird that I keep making my plots revolve around this?” Nicole Holofcener asks with a laugh. We’re talking about her new film “You Hurt My Feelings” (in theaters Friday), but we’re also talking about her very first feature, the wonderful “Walking and Talking,” in which a key moment of emotional turmoil occurs when a character accidentally overhears what another character really thinks of them.

French director Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall premiered in Competition at Cannes over the weekend to a buzzy reception with its star Sandra Hüller being tipped as a front-runner for the festival’s coveted best actress prize.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief French independent producer Haut Les Mains has come on board “A Useful Ghost,” a film project that is both topical and supernatural. The deal was announced on the margins of the Cannes Film Festival and its accompanying rights market. “A Useful Ghost” follows March and Nat, a happily married couple, and their seven-year-old son Dot. Nat dies of respiratory disease caused by air pollution. A saddened March is worried that the same fate will befall his son, who gradually develops similar symptoms. Nat then returns as a ghost haunting the house vacuum cleaner to try and suck up the dust hurting her son. She also longs to be accepted as part of society and intends to prove that by getting rid of the less useful ghosts.

EXCLUSIVE: Leading Egyptian independent production company Film Clinic is gearing up for the shoot of The Inevitable Journey Of Finding The Wedding Dress by Jaylan Auf.

Chinese director Wei Shujun has just premiered his third film, neo-noir thriller Only The River Flows, in Cannes Un Certain Regard to positive reviews. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent CAA Media Finance has come on board to handle sales in North America on Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” the first film from Sudan to launch from the Cannes Film Festival. CAA will be working in tandem with Egypt-based producer Ali El Arabi’s Ambient Light Films, which holds North American rights for the timely drama that premiered on May 21 in Un Certain Regard. “Goodbye Julia” takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan. It revolves around two women, one from the north, the other from the south, that are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities.

EXCLUSIVE: Egyptian-U.S. company Ambient Light has acquired North American sales rights for Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title Goodbye Julia.

Zoljargal Purevdash’s debut feature If Only I Could Hibernate tells the story of a teenager living in the yurt district of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, who is determined to win a physics competition and earn a scholarship to a good school. 

Tim Gray Senior Vice President The Intl. Emerging Film Talent Assn. returns to Cannes for the 13th year with a series of events to showcase new faces from underrepresented regions. The lineup will include screenings of films centering on refugees, a cash award for a documentary and spotlights on Arab and Sudanese cinema. For the sixth year, IEFTA is collaborating with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) at the Marche du Film. The program presents filmmakers — a number of them refugees themselves — who are documenting the experiences of those forced to flee from violence, famine or political oppression. The UN agency and IEFTA provide filmmaking tools and training to those affected. Refugees speak out about loss and desperation, but also resilience and hope.

Taipei-based Screenworks Asia is launching international sales on award-winning director Hsin-Ying Sung’s female-centric psychological thriller Lost In Perfection ahead of the Cannes market. 

A Scots mum and her kids can start rebuild their lives after being evacuated from war-torn Sudan after a fundraising appeal raised thousands.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Maiwenn Le Besco, the director of Johnny Depp’s Cannes opening night film “Jeanne du Barry,” has admitted that she spit in the face of an investigative journalist in February. The filmmaker confessed to the act just days ahead of the May 16 world premiere of “Jeanne du Barry.” The actor-director, who goes by Maiwenn, was asked on the French TV talkshow “Quotidien” if she could confirm that she had assaulted Edwy Plenel, the founder of Mediapart, which had published a report that several women had accused her ex-husband, director Luc Besson, of rape. “Do I confirm that I assaulted him? Yes,” she answered the interviewer, according to The Telegraph.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Paris-based distributor ARP Sélection has snapped up the timely Sudanese drama “Goodbye Julia” for French distribution ahead of its Cannes Un Certain Regard premiere next week. The film, which is Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s feature debut, marks the first feature from Sudan to bow from the Croisette and takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan. In “Goodbye Julia,” two women — one from the North, the other from the South — are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities. in an interview with Variety, Kordofani expressed the hope that his film “Can be the start of a movement for reconciliation between all the Sudanese people” in the war-ravaged country.