Jennifer Hudson and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale have joined the U.K. version of The Voice, which airs on ITV. Singer-actress Hudson, 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 have both previously served as coaches, Jones for the first four seasons and will.i.am on every season. Hudson first found fame on US reality singing competition program American Idol in 2004. 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.
Salesman
Doha Film Institute’s fourth Ajyal Youth Film Festival has unveiled its first line-up of six films, including the closing night gala. The selection includes films from acclaimed filmmakers such 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), which narrates the story of 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 in Cannes earlier this year 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 will also screen. Fest runs from November 30-December 5 in Doha, Qatar.
