The European Film Screenings returns on Wednesday for its third edition, boasting its most impressive line-up of films yet, showcasing the depth and breadth of cinema from the continent.
More than 20 feature films, from across Europe and the Arab world, will be screened in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, offering a rare chance to see some of the most exciting and acclaimed films on the big screen in the UAE.
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UAE’s European Film Screenings 2016 schedule
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Best of all, the screenings are free. Each film will be shown first at Novo Cinemas in World Trade Centre Mall, Abu Dhabi, and the following day at Novo Cinemas in Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai.
The nine-day mini-festival opens on Wednesday in the capital and Thursday in Dubai with Koza, which was Slovakia's entry for this year's Oscars. The film's director, Ivan Ostrochovský, will be a guest at both screenings. The main programme features movies drawn from 17 European countries – a varied collection selected to reflect the diversity of the continent's cinema and its people.
“We’re opening culture to the public, but also creating a dialogue between these countries and the UAE,” says the festival’s founder and artistic director, Alessandra Priante.
“I want people to walk out with something new in their mind. Cinema really is a mind-opener – you sit down and, by definition, you are immersed. This is the best way to start a dialogue at any level.”
Notable movies on offer include two feted dark comedies: surrealist Swedish director Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, and Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster, an Irish production starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes last year.
Other highlights include moody Spanish detective thriller La Isla Minima, the Palme d'Or-nominated Italian drama Mia Madre, featuring Hollywood star John Turturro, and the first part of art-house auteur Miguel Gomes's Arabian Nights trilogy.
In addition, offering a contrast of mood and genre, a new “family day” section will showcase four age-appropriate movies – from the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands and Germany – in Abu Dhabi on October 21 and Dubai on October 22.
For the first time, the main European programme will be complemented by a series of films showcasing acclaimed festival fare from the Arab world. This five-film selection includes Algerian movie Let Them Come, a Special Jury Prize-winner at last year's Dubai International Film Festival, Lebanese thriller Very Big Shot and Emirati film Abdullah. In previous years, the event presented Emirati shorts before each feature screening.
“Every year is different, and this year there has just been a lot of amazing Arab films,” says Priante.
Held under the patronage of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, last year’s EFS attracted more than 4,000 people to 10 days of screenings.
This third edition is hosted by the EU Delegation to the UAE and the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in the UAE – the country that currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union – in collaboration with Novo Cinemas.
This year's event also benefits from the support of the European Film Academy and Eurimages – two of the continent's most prominent cinema institutions – and is sponsored by Tharwa Productions, Aramex and Jumeirah. The National is also a media partner.
The not-for-profit series was founded in 2014 by former UAE resident Priante who, while working as an Italian diplomatic representative in Abu Dhabi, wanted her departing gift to be a celebration of celluloid.
However, the warm reception the inaugural edition received meant that, after returning to Rome, Priante, 44, felt unable to leave it as a one-off, and instead established it as an annual event.
Working with embassies from participating nations, this year Priante compiled a programme that focuses exclusively on recent works – unlike previous editions, none of the films is more than two years old – that particularly reflect the countries they come from.
The result is a diverse collection – from comedies and family films to gritty dramas and a documentary, Luxembourg's La Supplication, which is about the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
“These films offer a cultural window to the world of European cinema and imagination,” says Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, the chief executive of Novo Cinemas.
“This festival is a medium with which we can share the artistic vision and talent of European filmmakers with the hundreds of different nationalities residing in the UAE.
“As a nation renowned for welcoming the world’s diverse nationalities, cultures and traditions, EFS serves to strengthen the appreciation of diversity in the UAE.”
There is no advance booking and seats for the screenings are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis each day – so get there early to be sure of a place.
“The festival is successful because it is based on love – the energy behind it is love, people who love cinema coming together,” says Priante, who adds that she already has “big plans” for the fourth edition next year.
“Getting cinema shown is one of the basic ways of understanding people – to learn about different world.
“I feel in my heart – if I can change the vision of 100 people, then I’ve done my job.”
• For more information, visit www.europeanfilmscreenings.com
rgarratt@thenational.ae
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
MATCH INFO
Uefa Nations League
League A, Group 4
Spain v England, 10.45pm (UAE)
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
MATCH INFO
Karnatake Tuskers 114-1 (10 ovs)
Charles 57, Amla 47
Bangla Tigers 117-5 (8.5 ovs)
Fletcher 40, Moores 28 no, Lamichhane 2-9
Bangla Tiger win by five wickets
Results
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah – Group 2 (PA) $36,000 (Dirt) 1,600m, Winner: RB Money To Burn, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Turf) 2,410m, Winner: Star Safari, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
7.40pm: Meydan Trophy – Conditions (TB) $50,000 (T) 1,900m, Winner: Secret Protector, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 - Group 2 (TB) $293,000 (D) 1,900m, Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
8.50pm: Al Rashidiya – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Zakouski, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $65,000 (T) 1,000m, Winner: Motafaawit, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Major matches on Manic Monday
Andy Murray (GBR) v Benoit Paire (FRA)
Grigor Dimitrov (BGR) v Roger Federer (SUI)
Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Gilles Muller (LUX)
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
