“The Middle East is a gold mine for drama,” says Mohamed Diab from the Venice Film Festival, where his new film Amira has just played in the Horizons strand.
The Egyptian filmmaker behind Cairo 678 and Clash is in Italy, a short hop from Budapest, where he is currently filming Moon Knight, Marvel’s new television show.
But while the filmmaker, 43, and his producer-wife Sarah Goher have spent the past three years in America pitching to Hollywood studios, he is just as attached to telling stories from the Mena region.
“I love being in the chocolate factory in Marvel and playing with all the toys,” he tells The National. “But I love Amira. Amira’s process was unbelievable. There were things I cannot dare to do on a Marvel show. Even not having close-ups or mediums … you take bigger risks.”
The Arabic-language Amira is certainly a risk, telling a story of parentage and rebellion that was inspired by a news story about Palestinian prisoners in Israel who smuggle their sperm out of jail. As the film explains, more than 100 children have been conceived in this manner.
“The moment I read about it, I thought ‘Is this a science fiction film?’. It’s so weird and yet so human. It’s a symbol of survival. To Palestinians, this is an untouched topic.”
So much so, the real smuggling method is unknown. “They keep it secret. No one knows. There are rumours about how they do it, but they don’t tell anyone. One of the rumours is they put it in candy bars and then slip it under the glass [partition, between prisoners and visitors].”
Diab and his co-writers, his siblings Khaled and Sherin, came up with a credible alternative: a sealed plastic packet stored in a coffee cup full of ice.
Diab’s stories are often ripped from the headlines. For Cairo 678, he read about the first woman to file a sexual harassment case in Egypt. “I went to the trial myself and then I started to write the movie.”
He spent two years “immersing myself with women … trying my best to listen”. It was the same for Amira, with Diab doing his due diligence by talking to Palestinians wherever he could.
“It’s such an educational thing. It changed me as a human being.”
In truth, the smuggled sperm is only the springboard into a gripping melodrama, as the incarcerated Nuwar (Ali Suliman) and his wife Warda (Saba Mubarak) decide to have a second child. Their first, Amira (Tara Abboud), 17, was conceived via artificial insemination, too, with the same covert methods they are now planning to use again.
But then the doctors discover that Nuwar is sterile, and always has been. So who is Amira’s father? It sets the wilful teenager on a mission to discover her origins.
Apart from his cinematographer and his editor, Diab’s crew was all Palestinian, something he felt was crucial to help craft a believable narrative.
“I went with complete humility, knowing that I shouldn't explore a different country and a different culture, and one of the most sensitive situations in our lifetime, without guidance.”
Despite striving for authenticity, Diab had to shoot in neighbouring Jordan, owing to the complications of filming in Palestine.
“Jordan, for the past 10 years, they joined Morocco in being very open and very attractive to filmmakers around the world. They have great crews who work on international projects all the time. So they’re very professional. And the Royal Film Commission – any problem, they solve it. The government itself is very supportive of filmmaking.”
In terms of his own career, Diab’s support has also come from Hollywood’s finest. Take the claustrophobic Clash, which opened Cannes’s Un Certain Regard in 2016, telling the intense story of protesters locked in a police van during demonstrations at the tail-end of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi’s reign in 2013.
A-list star Tom Hanks got vocal on Twitter in support of the film, telling his followers “you simply must” see it. When Ethan Hawke, with whom Diab is working on Moon Knight, saw the film, he also went crazy for it. “He told me: ‘This is America … we should remake the film here.',” says Diab.
After studying in America, Diab is now embedding himself in Hollywood. He has a sci-fi project at Thunder Road Pictures “about a future with less resources”. Over at Blumhouse Productions, the hugely successful company behind Paranormal Activity, The Purge and the Oscar-winning Get Out, he has another fantasy story in development.
“Imagine a superhero in the Midwest who is a Syrian immigrant,” he says. “It’s a very entertaining political film. I remember Jason Blum told me: ‘This will be the next Get Out’, which is the best thing in the world to be said.”
During the pandemic, he was invited to pitch directing four episodes of Marvel’s Moon Knight. He and his wife read the first episode and conjured up a 200-page document, which got them in front of Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige.
“The moment we finished that pitch, I told Sarah, ‘If we didn’t get the job for this, something is wrong in the world. This is too good!’” Fortunately, they were successful, and now Diab is directing Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac, who plays Marc Spector, a former US marine and CIA agent, who is granted special powers by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu.
Alongside Hawke and Isaac is Egyptian actress May Calamawy, who was born in Bahrain. “The three of them are shining. They are doing an unbelievable job,” says Diab, who can barely contain his excitement.
“To have those serious actors for a project like this, a Marvel show, it means it’s special. And we’re doing something really special. It’s a different experience … making [a story with] an American character, learning about the culture, understanding more and making something funny with action. It’s teaching me about myself. Teaching me I can do something different.”
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Scoreline
Syria 1-1 Australia
Syria Al Somah 85'
Australia Kruse 40'
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
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.”
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
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FIXTURES
UAE’s remaining fixtures in World Cup qualification R2
Oct 8: Malaysia (h)
Oct 13: Indonesia (a)
Nov 12: Thailand (h)
Nov 17: Vietnam (h)
