2023-06-05 20:00:00
Lhe Cannes Film Festival, from May 16 to 27, honored a Sudanese film for the first time. Goodbye Julia won the Freedom Prize from the Un Certain Regard selection. This fiction takes place during the six years between the peace agreement initialed in 2005 to end the war between North and South Sudan and the referendum that paved the way for South Sudan’s independence in 2011. .
Mona, an ex-North Sudanese singer, seeks redemption for accidentally causing the death of a South Sudanese man. She then hires her wife, Julia, as a servant, and pays her son’s school fees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PjZYzop7akBehind this scenario, the deep questioning initiated by Mohamed Kordofani the day after the vote of the South Sudanese. This former aeronautical engineer signs his first feature film. He received this award, while his country sank into a war of unprecedented magnitude on April 15. The clashes, which are concentrated in Khartoum and Darfur, have left hundreds dead.
The Africa Point: What does this Freedom Prize mean to you?
Mohamed Kordofani: In this time of war, when militiamen take over our homes, our neighborhoods and our cities, freedom is essential. So this price means something. We must remain free. Before presenting this award, the president of the Un Certain Regard section, John C. Reilly, equated it with the right to be free, to express oneself, to live in a world without racism and to share one’s opinions. It is recognition of the hard work provided by the entire team that made this film possible. From a personal point of view, this distinction means that I was not completely crazy to retrain!
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Isn’t it ironic to get this award when the current conflict is pushing Sudanese even further away from the freedom they hoped to taste when ousting dictator Omar al-Bashir four years ago?
War effectively takes people away from the prospect of freedom and a better future for their country. I nevertheless consider this conflict as a side of the revolution. Forces have always opposed this revolution, but the movement is not dead. If we had only replaced the head of state, we would not have really succeeded in our revolution. Creating real change requires a lot of time and overcoming many obstacles. This course allows the company to evolve. We must overcome the war with benevolence and solidarity. For now, we are distraught over our fears for our own safety, that of our loved ones and losing our homes. But there will come a time when citizens will return to protest and succeed in accomplishing what they have been mobilizing for since December 2018.
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Under what conditions did you shoot Goodbye Julia ?
We started filming in November 2022, a year after the October 25, 2021 coup. There were two to three weekly pro-democracy demonstrations. Security forces regularly blocked the bridges linking Khartoum to the neighboring towns of Omdurman and Bahri. We shot several scenes in the neighborhood of Jerif, in eastern Khartoum, which is just behind the Riyadh police station, from where tear gas is usually fired to suppress the processions on 60 Street, the main artery that crosses this part of the capital.
One day, we filmed a demonstration and burned a car for the purposes of the film, while a real demonstration was taking place 200 meters away… I don’t know if the police could have made a difference! Law enforcement, on the other hand, was very cooperative once they read and understood the synopsis. I thank them for that. Shooting a film in a country deprived of cinemas was not won. We have also been confronted with recurrent power cuts or telecommunications disruptions aimed at undermining the protests. But we managed to shoot 45 days in a row without interruption. Our team members are heroes.
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Why did you choose to focus on this period?
It is a pivot in Sudan’s history that will go down in the books. I was 22 in 2011. I was old enough to understand what was going on. I felt the need to document this period not from a political angle, but based on what we observed from home. We need to reconcile as the Sudanese people between the different tribes, the different segments of the community… We missed an opportunity to reconcile during these six years of transition between the 2005 peace agreement and the 2011 referendum We must recognize and confess our failures that have prevented coexistence within a country to allow it to move forward. Separation from South Sudan was a mistake we should have learned from. But this problem persists.
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Was this split inevitable?
The film explores the racism that most members from northern communities expressed towards South Sudanese. The sharing of wealth, provided for in the 2005 agreement, was not enough. There have been too many agonies and sufferings in the past. It was very difficult for the South Sudanese to overcome them given the lack of attempts to establish this social reconciliation.
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What would have been different if Sudan had remained united?
I cannot imagine a united Sudan today. Above all, we must focus on the risks of further separations in the regions of Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile or the East. North Sudan is plagued by divisions, most of them ethnic, unfortunately. The roots of all these difficulties stem from the lack of social justice at all levels. If all the Sudanese united and agreed to cohabit without distinguishing between first, second or third class citizens, no force on earth could divide them and control the nation. Not even soldiers or militiamen.
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Goodbye Julia also addresses the theme of the oppression of women through the character of Mona. How to explain that the Sudanese, at the head of the processions during the revolution, did not acquire more rights and visibility, in spite of the two years of democratic transition?
Everything is connected. You can’t talk about equality and equity about race and ethnicity without mentioning gender equality and the patriarchal system. We need to turn the page on these divisions and try to build a national identity proud of the elements that bring citizens together. We must embody the values of freedom, peace, justice and coexistence demanded by the revolution. The film indeed tackles the separation at the macro level, not only between Sudan and South Sudan, but between husband and wife, between father and son, between friends, between lovers…
I was inspired by my own quest for change. In 2011, when 99% of South Sudanese voted for independence, I realized it was not a political issue. But of a social disaster. I realized that I didn’t know a single South Sudanese in Khartoum. They were, however, thousands. I have always had a respectful behavior towards them but while unconsciously downgrading them. Exactly like Mona thinks to act in a benevolent way without noticing the relationship of superiority that she maintains with Julia. It took me a while to understand all of this. The revolution needs time because it requires change at the level of the individual. I continue to inspect myself constantly to check that I am not acting in a racist or patriarchal way.
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What are your future projects?
I had several ideas, but the war ruined all my plans. In particular, I wanted to try to bring together people who share my observation about reconciliation. The goal was to generate movement. First at the national level between the residents of the different regions in order to create a national identity based on the values that represent us. I would have liked to film, in several cities, the discussions that would have emerged. But with the war, I am not optimistic.
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* Goodbye Juliaby Mohamed Kordofani, Sudan, 2 hours.
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