NEWS

Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s redemption drama Goodbye Julia won Ergo, Media Ventures and MAD Solutions’ joint award at the CineGouna SpringBoard that was held on the sidelines of the 4th edition of El-Gouna Film Festival (GFF). The award offered grants the winning film project distribution services across the Arab world with a minimum guarantee of $30,000 for the filmmakers.

Additionally, the feature film has won the festival’s $15,000 top prize for best project in development, and secured a $10,000 award from “Sparkle Media Services”.

Set in Khartoum ahead of Sudan’s division in 2011 into two separate countries, “Goodbye Julia” explores the differences between their two populations through two women hailing from each area. One is a retired singer, struggling with her marriage, who seeks redemption for causing the death of man from the South by offering a job as a maid to the second woman, his widow who is oblivious of her involvement.

“Goodbye Julia” is produced by Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alala, who is best known internationally for his debut feature “You Will Die At 20” which won Venice’s Lion of the Future in 2019 as well as best film at GFF last year.

Ergo, Media Ventures continues to support promising Egyptian and Arab film projects by presenting awards in cooperation with different film festivals and is committed to support promising cinematic projects and aspiring talents in their endeavor to share their visions with the world.

Since its establishment, it has supported three other projects through the CineGouna SpringBoard in the first three editions of El-Gouna Film Festival and two projects at Cairo Film Connection of the Cairo International Film Festival; some of which have gone on to win prestigious awards from renowned festivals such as Lebanese film  “1982” which has won the NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the FIPRESCI Award at the Gouna Film Festival in 2019 and is currently streaming on “Netflix”.

Ergo, Media Ventures is a dynamic investment firm committed to transforming the media landscape in Egypt and the Arab world. With a primary focus on digital and traditional content creation and distribution, Ergo, aims to re-establish the Egyptian media and entertainment industry as a sustainable economic, social, and cultural driver. Ergo, was established in 2018 by Ayady for Investment and Development, and is managed by NI Capital, a fully owned subsidiary of National Investment Bank.