Just because the gongs have been handed out and several filmmakers might have woken up with a strange glass statuette leering at them from their bedside table in Emirates Palace, that doesn't mean it's over for the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. There are still several screenings today, including the chance to see the main award winners.
WINNER: BLACK PEARL AWARD NARRATIVE
Araf/Somewhere In Between
Hotly anticipated before it arrived in Abu Dhabi, this drama from Turkish director Yesim Ustaglu tells the story of two youngsters who try to escape from their dull, limbo-trapped lives and break free from the vicious cycle of their numbing illusions. The miserableness is unrelenting, but there's a dramatic turn towards the end that leads to a spectacular finale.
Marina Mall, Vox 5, 6pm
WINNER: BLACK PEARL AWARD DOCUMENTARY
A World Not Ours
Part episode of The Wonder Years, part eye-opening history lesson, Mahdi Fleifel's colourful documentary sees the London-based Palestinian director return to the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon where he grew up, and introduces to a collection of absorbing characters a script could never do justice to. Hilarious in parts and emotional in other, A World Not Ours was a deserved winner, offering a superb window into the lives of those trapped in a situation where hope is all too often a far-flung concept.
Marina Mall, Vox 2, 3.45pm
WINNER: SPECIAL JURY AWARD DOCUMENTARY
Stories We Tell
Oscar-nominee Sarah Polley's tear-jerking documentary explore the secrets of her own family, using narratives from each member and archival footage to create a personal essay on the issues of how truth and memory are used to spin different tales. It's the filmmaker's first foray into documentary making, and proved to be one of the most warmly received of the whole festival.
Marina Mall, Vox 4, 3.30pm
WINNER: BLACK PEARL AWARD NEW HORIZONS
A Respectable Family
The corrupt dealings of a expansive family in post-revolutionary Iran are explored in this methodically structured debut drama from documentary filmmaker Massoud Bakhshi, littered with flashbacks to the 1980s and with a story that brings us to the modern day. Word of warning: it's quite complicated so you might want to pay attention to the subtitles.
Emirates Palace, 6.15pm
Cracks in the Wall
Ben White, Pluto Press
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
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RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: AF Senad, Nathan Crosse (jockey), Kareem Ramadan (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Ashjaan, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel.
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Amirah, Conner Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Jap Al Yaasoob, Szczepan Mazur, Irfan Ellahi.
4pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Cup Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri.
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Manhunter, Ryan Curatolo, Mujeeb Rahman.
