DUBAI // Seven Omani films will be shown during the fourth Gulf Film Festival that starts tomorrow, five of them making their world premiere.
The festival will showcase 153 films - including 45 Emirati titles - from 31 countries until April 20 at the Grand Cinema in Dubai Festival City.
Three Omani films will compete in the Gulf Shorts Competition, including the world premiere of Spices, by Amer Alrawas, which tells the story of four individuals at the same moment in time.
The Desert Angels, by Khalid al Khalbani, will also make its international premiere.
It is the story of a man who tries to eradicate racial discrimination from his life for his children's happiness.
Human Remains, a Kuwaiti and Omani co-production by Jassim al Nofaly and Meshal al Hulail, is the twin story of the emotional battles faced by a Kuwaiti ex-convict returning from Guantanamo Bay and an American soldier who escapes from the military.
Four Omani films were chosen for the student competition, including Sarmad Abdul Hameed al-Zoubidy's animated film, Accident. The film describes the effect of accidents on several individuals.
Maitham al Musawi will enter her adventure drama Raneen, the tale of a young boy who meets a sick girl in hospital and their blossoming friendship.
Issa al Subhi's Before Sunset is an experimental film that focuses on a disabled child's life, while Style by Sultan al Hussaini is a comedy that describes the changing style of today's youth.
Masoud Amralla al Ali, the director of the festival, said the seven Omani films were an example of the great strides made in the region, in terms of talent in the film industry.
"Inspiring talented youngsters from the region to pursue their ambitions in filmmaking has been one of the founding objectives of the Gulf Film Festival," Mr al Ali said.
This year's line-up includes 59 world premieres, 15 GCC premières and 10 UAE premieres.
The screening of 114 films will offer a glimpse of the latest events in the region. All films are free and open to the public.
The festival will open with the world premiere of an Iraqi documentary, Child of Iraq, by Ala'a Mohsen.
The film depicts the director's return to his home country after 14 years.
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
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Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
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.”
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