‘Goodbye Julia’ Review: Two Women Forge a Connection Across Devastating Divides in an Engrossing Sudanese Drama

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday. Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Ben Croll Disney animation chief creative officer Jennifer Lee capped an Annecy showcase by screening 20 minutes of unfinished footage of the upcoming animated musical “Wish,” which is slated for release this November. Split across two clips from the film’s opening act, the footage introduced feisty heroine Asha (Ariana DeBose) alongside antagonist King Magnifico (Chris Pine), and featured two all-new songs written by Julia Michaels. At first we meet the headstrong teenager as she interviews to serve as sorcerer’s apprentice for the regal Magnifico, a so-called benevolent mage who rules over his Kingdom of Rosas by guarding and granting the many wishes his subjects offer to him in tribute. Only the interview doesn’t quite go as planned after Asha pulls down the glowing crystal orb that holds the wish of her 100-year-old grandfather, begging the sovereign to grant it. No deal — Magnifico, it turns out, claims his regal powers by hoarding.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s feature debut “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan and won the Un Certain Regard section’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize) at Cannes, has scored a raft of sales following its launch. The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes official selection, “Goodbye Julia” is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.

Loose Women's Linda Robson has admitted she hasn't had sex with her husband, Mark Dunford for two years, amid rumours their 33 year marriage is in 'crisis'. During a chat on Thursday's Loose Women, the panelists discussed the idea of a sex break, which is when Linda stated that she and her husband haven't been intimate for two years.

Loose Women's Denise Welch is set to play Queen Elizabeth II in an upcoming Princess Diana musical, named Diana the Musical. The 65 year old is no stranger to acting, having starred in Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Waterloo road during her lengthy career. The concert version of Diana the Musical will see an older Diana both narrating and reflecting back on her life and that of her 19-year old self, played in two parts, by Kerry Ellis (Wicked, Anything Goes) and Maiya Quansah-Breed (original cast member of Six).

Coleen Nolan was 'proposed' to live on Loose Women today, after getting back with her Tinder ex. Sources recently revealed that Coleen was back with her boyfriend Michael, who she had introduced to her Loose Women colleagues on the show several months ago. The pair had since split up but are now said to be back together and "taking things slowly".

Soon after bombshell Leah Taylor entered the Love Island villa on Monday night Molly Marsh revealed that she already knew her. The new arrivals sent shockwaves through the villa as the boys were chosen for dates and the girls eagerly watched on from the balcony to spy on their new competition. Molly was one of the Islanders who was left feeling a little frantic after the arrival of Leah and fellow bombshell Charlotte Sumner as Mitchel Taylor and Zachariah Noble were both chosen for dates.

Loose Women star and OK! columnist Judi Love has issued her thoughts on the brand new series of Love Island, praising ITV for including a shake-up to the show and predicting further messiness. Writing in her weekly column, the stand-up comedian also reflected on her recent Barbadian birthday extravaganza, offers her support to musician Lewis Capaldi following the cancellation of his tour, offers her condolences to the family of US TV star Jackie O who passed away last week, and congratulates rapper Burna Boy for making history.

Loose Women panelist Sophie Morgan has revealed that British Airways has told her it will pay for damage to her wheelchair equipment, after a flight with the airline.The ITV star said her Batec, described as an attachment for a wheelchair which turns it into a mobility hand bike, was not working when she picked it up after leaving the plane. In an Instagram clip to her stories on Saturday, the presenter, 38, said: “British Airways have said they are going to pay for any repairs or replacements that I need, because there’s an electric fault that’s happened.

Former Loose Women star Saira Khan, 53, is embracing the heatwave sweeping the UK as she stripped down to a bikini. Posting a snap of her confidently posing in the blue two-piece to her Instagram, Saira made sure to share a body positive message alongside it.The TV star went makeup free in the mirror selfie, with her hand on her hip as she beamed in the blue swimwear, with her adorable dog sleeping soundly in the background. She captioned the post: "I can’t believe it - At last Bikini weather! Come on you ladies 50+ share your bikini pics with me! I don’t giving a flying monkeys a**e about stretch marks, wobbly bits or my weird skin - This Is Me and I’m enjoying the sunshine (safely).

David Benedict Smartly refusing to be doggedly faithful, bookwriter and director Jethro Compton retains the arc of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s (very) short, fable-like story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” but almost nothing else. Achieving an attractive life of its own on stage, the American story has been relocated to the coastal villages and tin mines of rural Cornwall with perfectly matched, lively and lovely Celtic folk music spiritedly played by a splendid cast. There is, however, a problem: the story itself. From the outset there’s a welcome, knowing humor delivered in direct address by the full company setting up individual scenes for Benjamin (Jamie Parker), beginning with his mysterious birth at the age of 70 in 1918. His horrified parents keep him a guilty secret while Benjamin begins leading his life steadily in reverse. Having been initially hidden, forbidden to be seen in public, by the time he becomes, so to speak, a teenager, he has found a regular secret escape route into the village where he begins mixing with people who assume him to be as elderly as he looks.

Expectant mum Kate Ferdinand has shared the comedic "reality" behind her appearance on ITV's Loose Women. Former TOWIE star Kate Ferdinand, 32, and her former footballer husband Rio Ferdinand are expecting their second child together in just a few weeks. She appeared on Wednesday's instalment of the popular panel show where she revealed the baby's position and said "she is kicking" her in the ribs.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has addressed past groping allegations in an upcoming Netflix documentary series.Five days prior to the California governor election in 2003, which Schwarzenegger went onto win, the actor and politician was accused of groping by six women across three decades in a report published on the Los Angeles Times.At the time, Schwarzenegger dismissed the allegations before later admitting he had “behaved badly” on film sets. “It is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful,” the actor said (via the Guardian).“But now I recognise that I offended people,” he added. “Those people that I have offended.

Ben Croll Academy-Award winner Vicky Jenson, Cartoon Saloon co-founder Nora Twomey, “Nimona” graphic novel creator N.D. Stevenson, Paramount Animation chief Ramsey Naito and acclaimed animator Anna Ginsburg will leave outdated paradigms in the dust at this year’s Women in Animation World Summit at the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival. Organized in collaboration with LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD, the seventh annual WIA World Summit will run as a daylong symposium on Monday, June 12, heralding new leadership, calling for creative risk-taking and celebrating diversity – in terms of stories told and those who tell them – with a number of panels and conversations united under a shared banner called, ‘Break the Box: Redefining Gender and Leadership.’

Former Loose Women panellist Carol McGiffin has claimed that none of the show's panel ever liked former This Morning host Phillip Schofield. Carol, 63, made the claims during an interview with Dan Wootton on GB News, shortly after 61 year old Phillip broke his silence in his own bombshell interview with The Sun and the BBC. She claimed nobody on the ITV show has said "a good word" about the TV presenter, who revealed he had "lost everything" after the affair came to light.

As questions continue to be asked following Phillip Schofield resigning from ITV and admitting to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague, we take a look at the key players at the broadcaster along with former This Morning presenters. Dame Carolyn McCall Dame Carolyn became ITV’s first female chief executive when she joined in 2018.

A number of panellists on ITV's Loose Women are reportedly furious after being dragged into the fallout of Phillip Schofield's affair with a young former colleague. Phillip, 61, was still married when he was involved with the unnamed staff member, confirming the affair in a statement on Friday just a week after stepping back from ITV's flagship breakfast show, This Morning.The presenter has been dropped by his talent agency, YMU, following his admission, and has stepped down from working with ITV altogether - meaning he will no longer host the British Soap Awards next week.The statement, shared on Friday evening, said: "I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.

Piers Morgan reignited his feud with Denise Welch as he hit out at his former employer ITV.The controversial broadcaster, 58, sensationally quit Good Morning Britain back in 2021 following an on-air row with Alex Beresford about Meghan Markle. And with Phillip Schofield's drama hitting headlines, Piers hasn't missed the chance to speak out about his former employer and one-time ITV stablemates.

Heading into its tenth edition next month, NEM Dubrovnik 2023 looks set to be its biggest event yet. Taking place from June 5-8 at the Dubrovnik Palace Hotel, the annual TV market will feature 11 keynote speakers as part of the program this year. They include: All3Media International CEO Louise Pedersen; SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan; Sony Pictures Television’s EVP of Distribution and Networks EMEA Mark Young; and United Group CEO Victoriya Boklag. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent CAA Media Finance has come on board to handle sales in North America on Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” the first film from Sudan to launch from the Cannes Film Festival. CAA will be working in tandem with Egypt-based producer Ali El Arabi’s Ambient Light Films, which holds North American rights for the timely drama that premiered on May 21 in Un Certain Regard. “Goodbye Julia” takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan. It revolves around two women, one from the north, the other from the south, that are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities.