A scene from Ali F Mostafa's From A to B. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Film Festival
A scene from Ali F Mostafa's From A to B. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Ali Mostafa’s From A to B will open Abu Dhabi Film Festival



From A to B, the new film by the Emirati director Ali F Mostafa, will open the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) on October 23. The film, produced by Image Nation Abu Dhabi (which is owned by The National's parent company Abu Dhabi Media), is the long-awaited follow-up to Mostafa's successful 2009 debut City of Life. Disney's latest animated film, Big Hero 6, will close the festival on November 1. From A to B tells the tale of three western-educated Arab youths who travel from Abu Dhabi to Beirut to honour the memory of a dead friend. "It is a privilege to celebrate the world premiere in our capital city and I am proud to have the first Emirati film to ever open the festival," says Mostafa. "This is another testament to our growing industry, as the festival has proven to be a great platform for launching Arab films to an international audience." Ali Al Jabri, the ADFF director, says that the film's prestigious opening slot reflects the growing confidence within the local film industry. "We are delighted to feature a locally produced film as the opening title of this year's festival," he says. "The success of high-calibre Arab filmmakers such as Ali Mostafa is a testament to the vibrancy of filmmaking in the region." – Saeed Saeed

Sarah Geronimo returns to the UAE

Two Filipino pop stars are coming to Dubai to perform. After wowing crowds at Abu Dhabi's du Forum earlier in the year, Sarah Geronimo and her energetic G Force dancers are reportedly returning to Dubai for a show at the Dubai World Trade Centre on December 1. The concert is considered an encore performance to her Perfect 10 tour, which celebrates her decade-long career and features her latest hits It Takes a Man and a Woman and Ikot-Ikot from last year's album Expressions. Ticket details and prices will be released soon. Also coming to Dubai is the young starlet Anne Curtis, who is bringing back her popular Forbidden Concert tour to the city on November 7. The show will feature tracks from her latest album, Annebisyosa, including her latest hit Made in the Philippines. The promoters Sundance Live will release venue details and prices soon. Watch this space. – The National staff

Miss America drums up support with plastic cup act

Miss New York Kira Kazantsev was crowned Miss America on Sunday night, winning the beauty-pageant title after singing the Pharrell Williams song Happy while sitting cross-legged on the stage and banging a red plastic cup on the floor. She revealed that the unusual performance, in the talent portion of the contest, had been inspired by a similar scene in the 2012 movie Pitch Perfect, in which a character auditions for an a cappella group by performing using a cup. She also said she did it to show future contestants that they can win with any talent routine, regardless of what other people may think of it. Despite winning the contest, which was held at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, Kazantsev came under withering criticism on social media sites for her talent performance. But she said she had the time of her life performing the cup routine. Her success marked the third year in a row that a Miss New York has won the televised pageant. She chose combating sexual assault in the military as the issue that she wants female senators to raise with male counterparts. – AP

Bollywood star lashes out at newspaper’s lack of respect

The Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has hit out at a newspaper that published what she considered an insulting and demeaning story about an outfit she wore to a movie event, the Indian Express reported. Last year, Padukone was photographed at a launch of Chennai Express in a low-cut dress designed by Anaita Shroff Adajania, and on Sunday morning, The Times of India newspaper retweeted a story they had run, with the comment "OMG: Deepika Padukone's cleavage show!" The normally laid-back actress was not impressed and replied with a series of tweets: "Supposedly India's 'LEADING' newspaper and this is 'NEWS'!!? YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!? Don't talk about Woman's Empowerment when YOU don't know how to RESPECT Women!" Fans of the actress also voiced their support, with 1,550 retweets within an hour. The Finding Fanny director Homi Adajania also tweeted in support and registered his anger, wri­ting: "We just slam ourselves back into the dark ages." – The National staff

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press 

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Match info

Liverpool 4
Salah (19'), Mane (45 2', 53'), Sturridge (87')

West Ham United 0

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

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Miguel Cotto world titles:

WBO Light Welterweight champion - 2004-06
WBA Welterweight champion – 2006-08
WBO Welterweight champion – Feb 2009-Nov 2009
WBA Light Middleweight champion – 2010-12
WBC Middleweight champion – 2014-15
WBO Light Middleweight champion – Aug 2017-Dec 2017