‘Goodbye Julia,’ ‘Invisible Nation,’ ‘Call Me Dancer’ & More Claim Prizes At Sonoma International Film Festival

deadline.com:

The Sudanese drama Goodbye Julia is continuing its impressive awards run, earning the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature over the weekend at the Sonoma International Film Festival in California.

Mohamed Kordofani directed the story set in the context of the secessionist movement that led to the establishment of the independent 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 premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival last year, where it won the Freedom Prize.

The film also won the Cinema For Humanity Prize at the El Gouna Film Festival, the Roger Ebert Award in the New Directors Competition at the Chicago Film Festival, as well as the Audience Award at Singapore International Film Festival.

It represented Sudan in the Best International Film category for the Academy Awards. Invisible Nation won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sonoma, selected from among a half dozen features.