Jennifer Hudson and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale have joined the UK version of The Voice. Singer-actress Hudson, a 2004 American Idol finalist whose career has earned her a Grammy and a Oscar for her role as Effie in Dreamgirls, will make her debut with Rossdale on the show as coaches on the singing competition. They join Tom Jones and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, who previously have served as coaches — Jones for the first four seasons and will.i.am on every season. The new season of The Voice UK will air early next year on ITV, after the network snapped up rights to the program from the BBC last year. Emma Willis will present.
Doha Film Institute’s fourth Ajyal Youth Film Festival has unveiled its first lineup of six films, including the closing-night gala. The selection includes works from such acclaimed filmmakers as Ken Loach, Gianfranco Rosi, Asghar Farhadi, Taika Waititi, Michael Dudok de With and newcomer Babak Anvari. Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle (La Tortue Rouge), about a man who tries to escape from a deserted island and must battle a giant turtle, will close the festival. It premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in May and won the Special Jury Prize. Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake, about a middle-aged carpenter who applies for state welfare, will screen in competition at the festival’s Bader segment along with Rosi’s Fire at Sea, while Iran’s official 2017 Academy Awards entry The Salesman will have its MENA premiere. Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Anvari’s Under the Shadow also will screen. The fest runs from November 30-December 5 in Doha, Qatar.
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