Sudan has recently picked Goodbye Julia to be its second-ever submission for best international feature at the Academy Awards. Goodbye Julia is also the first picture out of Sudan to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. 

Just before South Sudan’s secession in 2011, the film follows Mona, a wealthy woman from the north, looking for redemption from Julia, after her husband shoots and kills Julia’s own husband. Mona hires Julia as her maid, hoping to be able to find forgiveness. 

The film is directed by Mohamed Kordofani, who had previously said that the film is meant to be “about the transformation of someone who realizes that they have been unknowingly racist and want to overcome this racism. A transformation of someone who first abides by social norms and traditions, who transforms into being a little bit liberated and open-minded and begins to question those traditions, which play into the institutional racism we have inherited, and things like oppression that women suffer in our society.”

“I feel very grateful that the committee in Sudan reactivated and selected Goodbye Julia for the Oscars race despite the war,” Kordofani said, according to Hollywood Reporter. “This only shows how resilient and hopeful people in Sudan can be. I feel immensely honored that my film is now on the list of Sudan’s submissions to the Academy, and I hope we can be visible to voters so that – maybe – we can be visible to the world and show it a different side of Sudan.” 

Goodbye Julia also won the Un Certain Regard’s freedom prize at Cannes when the film screened there.