The Sudanese drama Goodbye Julia is continuous its spectacular awards run, incomes the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature over the weekend on the Sonoma International Film Festival in California.
Mohamed Kordofani directed the story set within the context of the secessionist motion that led to the institution of the impartial nation of South Sudan in 2011.
“We commend the festival for its impressive selection of narrative features and unanimously select Goodbye Julia as the best film,” jurors wrote. “An outstanding first feature from Mohamed Kordofani, anchored by two stellar performances from Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak, Goodbye Julia provides a glimpse into a culture and region that’s underrepresented and underexplored in contemporary cinema.”
The jury, comprised of Rosa Bosch (Begin Again Films), Tyler Coates (The Hollywood Reporter), Rebecca Fisher (Magnolia Pictures), Jason Hellerstein (Sideshow), and Julie Huntsinger (Telluride Film Festival), awarded a Special Mention to Hesitation Wound, describing it as “a brilliant accomplishment from an up-and-coming auteur in Selman Nacar.”
‘Goodbye Julia’
Sonoma International Film Festival
Goodbye Julia premiered within the Un Certain Regard part of the Cannes Film Festival final yr, the place it received the Freedom Prize. The movie additionally received the Cinema For Humanity Prize on the El Gouna Film Festival, the Roger Ebert Award within the New Directors Competition on the Chicago Film Festival, in addition to the Audience Award at Singapore International Film Festival. It represented Sudan within the Best International Film class for the Academy Awards.
Invisible Nation received the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sonoma, chosen from amongst a half dozen options. The movie directed and produced by Vanessa Hope and produced by Ted Hope, Sylvia Feng, and Ivan Orlic, examines Taiwan at a vital second of its historical past, as China takes an more and more aggressive posture in the direction of its neighbor, threatening the island nation’s independence.
‘Invisible Nation’
Sonoma International Film Festival
“2024 is shaping up to be a sobering year,” the documentary jury famous in its quotation. “Democracy seems to be at risk. Invisible Nation, Vanessa Hope’s cogent, clear-eyed, entertaining film reveals Taiwan as a dynamic nation standing at the forefront of the global fight for democracy.”
The jury was made up of Thelma Adams (movie critic), Eugene Hernandez (director of the Sundance Film Festival), Jannette Napoli (ITVS), Rob Williams (Participant), and myself.
Shorts incomes awards embrace Bug Diner (Best Animated Short; dir. Phoebe Heart); A Part Of You Made Me Whole Again (Best Documentary Short; administrators Destyn Fuller-Hope and Andrew Wonder), and ILY, Bye (Best Live Action Short; dir. Taylor James). The shorts jury was made up of Tabitha Jackson (former Sundance Film Festival director, co-host of The Film That Blew My Mind podcast), Selin Sevinc (Bend Film Festival), and Andy Spletzer (Seattle International Film Festival).
Manish Chauhan in ‘Call Me Dancer’
Shampaine Pictures
The A3 Audience Award for documentary went to Call Me Dancer, a movie in regards to the extraordinary dancer Manish Chauhan directed by Pip Gilmour and Leslie Shampaine (learn our evaluate of the movie). The Stolman Audience Award Best Feature was claimed by The Teacher Who Promised the Sea, directed by Patricia Font. The McNeely Award for Best Short Film went to Save the Cat, directed by Jordan Matthew Horowitz.
The Sonoma International Film Festival ran from March 20-24, curated by Artistic Director Carl Spence, with senior programmers Amanda Salazar (Narrative Feature), Ken Jacobson (Narrative Documentary), and shorts programmer Oscar Arce Naranjo. Ginny Krieger is the pageant’s govt director; Dr. Kevin W. McNeely is director emeritus.
Among the pageant highlights was the world premiere of Extremely Unique Dynamic, directed by Harrison Xu, Ivan Leung, and Katherine Dudas, and the U.S. Premiere of Thomas Napper’s Widow Clicquot, starring Haley Bennett.
Maya Hawke in ‘Wildcat’
Oscilloscope
The Centerpiece Film was Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat starring his daughter, Maya Hawke, within the position of Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor.
The Closing Night Film was Luc Besson’s Dogman, starring Caleb Landry Jones; a Closing Night Special Presentation of Pablo Berger’s Academy Award-nominated movie Robot Dreams was held at Sonoma Academy’s Community Performing Arts Center in Santa Rosa.
Beau Bridges on the 2024 Sonoma International Film Festival.
Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images
Actor Beau Bridges was readily available to obtain the pageant’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Chef Susan Feniger was introduced with the SIFF Culinary Excellence Award at a dinner and screening of a documentary about her, Susan Feniger. Forked, directed by Liz Lachman.
This is the total checklist of prize winners from the Sonoma International Film Festival:
GRAND JURY FILM AWARDS:
Grand Jury Award | Best Narrative Feature:
Goodbye Julia (Mohamed Kordofani | Sudan)
Special Mention: Hesitation Wound (Selman Nacar | Turkey)
Narrative Feature Grand Jury: Rosa Bosch (Begin Again Films), Tyler Coates (The Hollywood Reporter), Rebecca Fisher (Magnolia Pictures), Jason Hellerstein (Sideshow), and Julie Huntsinger (Telluride Film Festival).
Narrative Feature Competition Films: Blaga’s Lessons (Stephan Komandarev | Bulgaria), The Blue Star (Javier Macipe | Spain), Dear Jassi ( Tarsem Singh Dhandwar | India), Goodbye Julia (Mohamed Kordofani | Sudan), Hesitation Wound (Selman Nacar | Turkey), Puan (Maria Alché and Benjamín Naishtat | Argentina/Brazil), Rosalie (Stéphanie di Giusto | France) and Snow Leopard (Pema Tseden | China).
Grand Jury Award | Best Documentary Feature:
Invisible Nation (Vanessa Hope | USA)
Documentary Feature Grand Jury: Thelma Adams (movie critic), Matthew Carey (Deadline), Eugene Hernandez (Director of the Sundance Film Festival), Jannette Napoli (ITVS), and Rob Williams (Participant).
Documentary Feature Competition Films included: And So It Begins (Ramona S. Diaz | USA), Farming While Black (Mark Decena | USA), Invisible Nation (Vanessa Hope | USA), Let The Canary Sing (Alison Ellwood | USA), The Most Remote Restaurant within the World (Ole Juncker | Denmark), and Mourning in Lod (Hilla Medalia | Israel).
Grand Jury Awards | Best Short Films:
Best Live Action Short | ILY, Bye (Taylor James | USA)
The jury wrote, “For this audacious filmmaking debut, towering central performance, and a script that is funny as fuck (hell), we’d like to grant the award for best short film in the Live Action category to ILY, Bye by Taylor James.”
Best Documentary Short | A Part of You Made Me Whole Again (Destyn Fuller-Hope and Andrew Wonder | USA)
The jury wrote, “For its effective and economical storytelling in a cinematic expression of love. We’d like to grant the award for best short film in the documentary category to A Part Of You Made Me Whole Again by Destyn Fuller-Hope and Andrew Wonder.”
Best Animated Short | Bug Diner (Phoebe Heart | USA)
The jury wrote, “For a shocking and memorable use of puppet porn and humor, we’d like to grant the award for best short film in the animation category to Bug Diner by Phoebe Heart.”
Short Film Grand Jury: Tabitha Jackson (Former Sundance Director, co-host of The Film That Blew My Mindpodcast), Selin Sevinc (Bend Film Festival), and Andy Spletzer (Seattle International Film Festival).
AUDIENCE FILM AWARDS:
The Stolman Audience Award for Best Feature
The Teacher Who Promised the Sea (Patricia Font | Spain)
1st Runner-up: Ghostlight (Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson | USA)
2nd Runner-up Ezra (Tony Goldwyn | USA)
third Runner-up Wicked Little Letters (Thea Sharrock | United Kingdom)
4th Runner-up, Mr. Blake At Your Service! (Gilles Legardinier | France)
The A3 Audience Award for Best Documentary
Call Me Dancer (Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour | India)
1st Runner-up: Let the Canary Sing (Alison Ellwood | USA)
2nd Runner-up: UnDamaged (Beth Lane | USA)
third Runner-up: Copa 71 (Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine | United Kingdom)
4th Runner-up: Merchant Ivory (Stephen Soucy | USA)
The McNeely Award for Best Short Film
Save the Cat (Jordan Matthew Horowitz | USA)
1st Runner-up: Abundance: The Farmlink Story (Owen Dubeck | USA)
2nd Runner-up: Terminally Ill (Chris Cole | USA)
third Runner-up: Baby Gay (Arielle Frances Bagood | USA)
4th Runner-up: Lunchbox (Anne Hu | USA)