A year since Goodbye Julia made its debut at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, lead actress and singer Eiman Yousif views its Netflix premiere with mixed feelings.
After escaping Sudan's civil war to live between Tunisia and Nairobi, she says the critically acclaimed film’s message is more potent than before.
Set in Khartoum, Goodbye Julia highlights some of the systemic bigotry that laid the seeds for the 2011 referendum that has split Sudan.
As well as forming the nation of South Sudan, the rupture indirectly resulted in a wave of political and economic instability. Mass protests upended the 25-year rule of Sudan’s former president Omar Bashir in 2019 and the ensuing military power struggle has led to the latest bloodshed.
“Honestly, I feel more disappointed than angry,” Yousif tells The National.
“I do worry about what is going to happen because we were so full of hope to build a new Sudan after the 2019 revolution and now this mess just happened again.”
Goodbye Julia, Yousif says, looks at the “moral corruption” that can slowly tear a country apart.
The film follows its namesake, a South Sudanese young woman (Siran Riak) who finds herself living in a tent after her family's eviction by xenophobic neighbours.
After her South Sudanese husband Santino is killed following an encounter with northern Sudanese housewife Mona (Yousif), the women strike a complex relationship that lays bare the racial fault lines through a once unified country.
The film’s disturbing and at times graphic portrayal of the racism experienced by South Sudanese at the hands of northern neighbours are necessary, Yousif notes.
“We need to admit that we are not angels but human beings,” she says. “We as Sudanese, and I am sorry to say this, love to sometimes play the role of the victim or being neutral and that we cannot hurt anyone. But [the film] shows that maybe we have indirectly hurt someone or know someone that did and we did nothing about it … That is also a kind of corruption.”
Yousif is now rebuilding her life after the civil war started days before the film’s premiere in Cannes.
Following an arduous escape from Khartoum to Cairo, she made it to the festival where Goodbye Julia went on to win the Freedom Award.
Amid the standing ovations and industry buzz, Yousif recalls experiencing survivor’s guilt in the French Riviera.
“I kept crying because I couldn't handle all that was happening. Sometimes I felt like I was selfish because I am there and not in my homeland. But on the other hand this was a dream come true for me because I always wanted a career as a singer and actor,” she says.
“I remember director Mohamed Kordofani telling me 'Come on Eman, it's only five days. We are all going to enjoy it and then you can go and cry after.'”
The tears eventually made way for tenacity with Yousif processing the pain through song.
Released in February, the buoyant melodies of latest track Wain Alhilim (Where is the Dream) partly disguises the anguished lyrics surrounding Sudan’s predicament.
“Where did the dream go? Why did they sell it?” she sings. “They sold the homeland and we are the ones paying the price. Our hope is in a great tomorrow.”
The song is a follow up to Gol Ley Kef (Tell Me How), a collaboration with Sudanese rapper Niile, which was featured in Goodbye Julia.
Yousif says she somewhat identifies with her character Mona, who throughout the film tries to keeps her fledgling singing career a secret from her conservative husband.
While Yousif's family were appreciative of her talents, they expressed concerns regarding her ability to build a sustainable music and film career in a country without the necessary infrastructure. Goodbye Julia director Kordofani only caught wind of her talent after discovering her by chance on YouTube.
At the time, she was performing the occasional cafe gig in Khartoum and studying at the local branch of the Bait Al Oud music conservatory while juggling a full-time job as a sales executive for a manufacturer.
“My mother would always tell me, 'Eiman, I want to remind you that you are just one person and you can't be all these different people,'” Yousif says. “And you know, sometimes I wish there were two of me – one to do the same secure job and the other that can sing and act.”
Her mother’s eventual approval strengthened Yousif's commitment to following the artistic path. After begrudgingly attending a number of rehearsal sessions at the conservatory she not only experienced her daughter's artistry, but that of a new generation of Sudanese youth performing as musicians and soloists.
“My mother said how all of the Sudanese people need to see this, that we are all doing well and we should continue,” Yousif recalls.
With the civil war forcing the conservatory to close at present, Goodbye Julia continues to show her talent to the world.
Goodbye Julia is now streaming on Netflix
