DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

In Sudan, the racism that was practiced for many decades from most Northern Arabs, government and people, was a major reason for the southerners choosing to secede. This was most evident when the results revealed a whopping %99 of Southerners wanted to separate. It is not possible for an entire people to choose secession for any other reason. I realized then that I was somehow responsible for that decision, for all my life in Khartoum I had known no one from the south except for some domestic workers as if we had practiced social apartheid. Writing this film was part of a continuous effort to get rid of that inherited racism, motivated by a sense of guilt and a desire for reconciliation and a call for it, even if it seems late. Reconciliation is not only necessary with Southerners, but we need it as a national project to preserve what is left of Sudan and to build a new national identity that is proud of the values of humanity, coexistence, and justice instead of race, tribe, and gender.

GOODBYE JULIA is a difficult journey through the collective memory of Sudanese and South Sudanese peoples that deals with the normal everyday living of two women linked together by unusual social and political situations that impacted them greatly. Its narrative is inspired by the stages of reconciliation, and it discusses themes such as remorse, compensation, disclosure, confession of guilt, and repentance for it.