Kordofani brings Sudan trilogy follow-up to Rome market
Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani is taking his second feature, About Love & September Laws, to Rome's MIA Market running Oct. 19-23 in search of co-production partners.
The project is the follow-up to his debut Goodbye Julia and the second part of a planned trilogy charting the modern history of Sudan, according to Variety.
Set in 1983, the new film follows Carter, an African American journalist who arrives in Khartoum to revive a struggling newspaper. He is soon pulled into a love triangle, the MIA listing notes.
The film is produced by Klozium Studios, the company Kordofani launched in 2020 with Goodbye Julia co-producer Khalid Awad. It reunites much of that film's European producing team: Marc Irmer of France's Dolce Vita, Michael Henrichs of Germany's DGS and Issraa Elkogali of Sweden's RiverFlower.
Behind the camera, the team so far includes cinematographer Pierre De Villiers, editor Heba Osman, sound designer Rana Eid and co-writer Khaled Alwaleed.
Kordofani arrives in Rome with a strong festival record. Goodbye Julia, released in 2023, premiered in Un Certain Regard, Cannes' sidebar for new voices and unusual stories, and became the first Sudanese feature to make the festival's official selection. It won the section's Freedom Prize and was executive produced by Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o. Sudan later selected it as only its second-ever entry for the best international feature Oscar, according to Variety.
About Love & September Laws already has momentum on the industry circuit. It won three prizes at the Red Sea Film Festival's Souk Awards last December, including a full DCP package worth $8,000 from Shift Studios, according to Deadline.
In Rome it sits among 12 projects in MIA's Film Co-Production Market, a shop floor where producers pitch unfinished films to financiers, distributors and broadcasters. The wider market has 67 projects across film, drama and documentary this year, with 22 film projects in development, according to Screen Daily.
What makes this stand out for buyers is continuity. Same director, same core producers and a clear historical through-line from one film to the next. For audiences, it means a return to Khartoum, this time more than two decades before the events of Goodbye Julia.
