AFRICA FILM FEST AUSTRALIA
4-7 SEPTEMBER 2025
WHAT'S ON
This Refugee Week, Africa Film Fest Australia proudly invites you to a powerful evening of cinema, conversation, and community.
Join us for a free screening of Goodbye Julia, the first Sudanese film ever shown at the Cannes Film Festival—and winner of the Freedom Prize.
After the film, deepen your understanding in a live panel and audience Q&A featuring powerful voices from Australia’s refugee and African communities:
Event Details
Date: Thursday 19 June 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
Venue: State Library of New South Wales – The Library Auditorium (entry via the Mitchell Building).
Tickets: FREE (Bookings essential)
Rating: M – for mature audiences
Seats are limited—reserve yours now and be part of this powerful night of storytelling!
Presented By
This event is a collaboration between the City of Sydney, Africa Film Fest Australia, State Library of NSW, Refugee Council of NSW, and the Darfur Community Association.
Live Panel
After the film, stay for a candid panel discussion featuring four voices rooted in advocacy, creativity, and lived experience.
Featuring:
Rosemary Kariuki OAM – Advocate for migrant women and 2021
Australia’s Local Hero
Adama Kamara – Deputy CEO, Refugee Council of Australia, community-led initiatives champion
Nyaluak Leth (NMMWL) – South Sudanese-Australian poet whose work speaks to migration, memory, and reclaiming voice
Ahmed El Tahir – Darfur community leader dedicated to cultural preservation and intergenerational support
From the moment they meet, Bolude, the dutiful daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, and Carmen, a self-made vigilante mestiza, share an unbreakable sistership.
Attempting to define themselves amidst American identity politics, light-skinned Carmen acknowledges only her Latin heritage, and Bolude embraces Western values over Nigerian roots.
Sure to change everything, is Bolude’s engagement to white, Australian Tommy.
Bolude finally braves telling her traditional father, Akin, only two weeks before the wedding.
Hurt she has not chosen a Nigerian, Akin responds with an ultimatum: he will only give his blessing if she can follow tradition and get 100 Australians from 100 villages to welcome her.
The two women fly to Australia and set off on the wrong side of the road to find Sydney’s ethnic ‘villages.’ Along with welcomes, the uproarious light of Australian culture forces them to confront their identity choices-and their diverging paths.
In connecting with her Nigerian identity, she tries to attract the number of welcomes she needs, but loses Carmen in the process who is finding out about her own Australian heritage.
Can Bolude find the answers to harmonise living in Australia with Tommy, serving her community in Nigeria, and keeping Carmen in the family?
Director:Maria Isabel Delaossa
Producers: Yolandi Frankel, Michela CarattiniKey
Cast: Michela Carattini, Bolude Watson, David Collins, Wale Ojo
Our Partners and Sponsors
Subscribe to our
Newsletter
Be the first to know about our festival lineup, exclusive events, and the stories shaping African cinema.
We Africa Film Fest Australia, acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work and live. We celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of NSW.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
