Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous prelude to South Sudan's 2011 secession, Goodbye Julia has garnered acclaim. Photo: Station Films
Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous prelude to South Sudan's 2011 secession, Goodbye Julia has garnered acclaim. Photo: Station Films
Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous prelude to South Sudan's 2011 secession, Goodbye Julia has garnered acclaim. Photo: Station Films
Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous prelude to South Sudan's 2011 secession, Goodbye Julia has garnered acclaim. Photo: Station Films

Goodbye Julia from Sudan leads nominations for Critics Awards for Arab Films with eight


Faisal Salah
  • English
  • Arabic

Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani's feature film debut, Goodbye Julia, leads nominations for the prestigious Critics Awards for Arab Films with a total of eight.

Overseen by the Arab Cinema Centre in Cairo and adjudicated by 209 critics from 72 countries, the awards will be given to winners during a gala ceremony on May 18 on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival.

Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous prelude to South Sudan's 2011 secession, Goodbye Julia has garnered acclaim for its timely exploration of morality and reconciliation. The film is also the first from Sudan to be screened as part of Cannes Film Festival's official selection.

It tells the story of the relationship between two women from contrasting backgrounds – one from the north, the other from the south. Fate brings the two together as they witness the real-life events of 2011 unravel.

Saudi film Hajjan has also earned six nominations. Photo: Ithra
Saudi film Hajjan has also earned six nominations. Photo: Ithra

Goodbye Julia's eight nominations include best feature and best director. Actresses Eiman Yousif and Nazar Goma, who play the lead characters, have also been recognised for their performances.

Other frontrunners include Jordanian Amjad Al Rasheed's dark social comedy Inshallah a Boy, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania's hybrid documentary-drama Four Daughters and Abu Bakr Shawky’s Saudi film Hajjan, all of which scored six nominations. Tunisian actress Hend Sabry nabbed two nominations in the same category, Best Actress, for Kira & El Gin and Four Daughters.

Films from Egypt, Syria and Palestine were also nominated. All nominees were films that had their premiere at an international festival outside the Arab world in 2023.

Previous winners of the coveted best film award at the annual ceremony include Tamer El Said’s The Last Days Of The City, Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers and Ahmed Yassin Aldaradji’s Hanging Gardens.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra

Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa

Rating: 4/5

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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.

Updated: April 25, 2024, 2:39 PM`