Algerian filmmaker Salah Issaad first met Soula Bahri, the co-writer and subject of his debut feature Soula, in 2011, during one particularly cold winter night in Batna.
Bahri was 17, pregnant and homeless. She had been ostracised by her family for carrying a child out of wedlock and had nowhere to go. Her friends, most of whom came from conservative families themselves, couldn’t offer her a place to stay, and she had to spend most of her days getting in and out of their cars.
“The first time I met her was similar to the way we see her in the film,” Issaad said during a discussion that followed Soula’s screening at the Amman International Film Festival. “A friend of a friend of a friend brought her to us. She didn’t know where to go so she came to stay with us in the car. Her story immediately inspired me.”
The two struck up a close friendship, and Bahri would often call Issaad when she was uncertain of where to go.
“She’d phone me at 3 or 4 in the morning,” he said. “I couldn’t bring her home, so we’d end up driving around.”
After studying cinema and filmmaking in France, Issaad approached Bahri about adapting her story in film and the two began a creative partnership, writing the script of Soula together. The film follows Bahri as she looks for a safe location for herself and her child, but is instead caught in a series of tragic events along the roads of Algeria.
Most of the events in Soula are based on Bahri’s lived experiences, albeit condensed into a single night. The characters that appear in Soula are also based on real people, and though they are portrayed by actors, Bahri herself takes on the lead role.
“Even as we were writing the script, she’d read the lines with emotion,” Issaad said. “Seeing her read, I knew no one else could take on the role of Soula.”
The film veers off from Bahri’s lived experiences in its final stretch, and a title screen briefly appears to demarcate fact from fiction. The film ends on a sombre and poetic note, which confronts the societal standards that pushed Soula, and many women like her, to homelessness and despair.
Given its subject matter, Soula is not an easy watch. The film's unflinching depiction of the tragic moments Bahri endured, however, does not feel gratuitous. The anxiety and discomfort it instils feel necessary, a visceral glimpse at a reality often sidelined and silenced.
Bahri’s life is now much more secure, Issaad said. She is a mother of three and her eldest child, who inspired the baby in the film, is now a bright girl who is at top of her class. Bahri herself is pursuing a career in filmmaking and has written a short script that Issaad described as “absolutely incredible.”
Yet, there are many women across the Middle East who have not had such opportunities.
Growing up, Issaad said he had often heard about young single mothers who were left to fend for themselves after being rejected by their families in the name of honour. In fact, Issaad was only 10 when he and a group of friends stumbled upon a baby who had been abandoned in a box.
“There is no doubt that he was a child born out of wedlock. His mother must have felt like she had no choice but to leave him. Perhaps if we did not find him, the baby would have died,” he said. “We took the baby to a friend’s mother, who then called the police.”
The film may not directly ease their plight, but by bringing attention to the experiences and tribulations of a single mother in Algeria, it could have a ripple effect.
Warlight,
Michael Ondaatje, Knopf
Fifa Club World Cup:
When: December 6-16
Where: Games to take place at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi and Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain
Defending champions: Real Madrid
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETuhoon%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYear%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFares%20Ghandour%2C%20Dr%20Naif%20Almutawa%2C%20Aymane%20Sennoussi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ehealth%20care%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E15%20employees%2C%20%24250%2C000%20in%20revenue%0D%3Cbr%3EI%3Cstrong%3Envestment%20stage%3A%20s%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWamda%20Capital%2C%20Nuwa%20Capital%2C%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
Jawan
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The%20Killer
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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RESULT
Copa del Rey, semi-final second leg
Real Madrid 0
Barcelona 3 (Suarez (50', 73' pen), Varane (69' OG)
The%20specs
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Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
SPEC SHEET
Display: 10.9" Liquid Retina IPS, 2360 x 1640, 264ppi, wide colour, True Tone, Apple Pencil support
Chip: Apple M1, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 64/256GB storage; 8GB RAM
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, Smart HDR
Video: 4K @ 25/25/30/60fps, full HD @ 25/30/60fps, slo-mo @ 120/240fps
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR, Centre Stage; full HD @ 25/30/60fps
Audio: Stereo speakers
Biometrics: Touch ID
I/O: USB-C, smart connector (for folio/keyboard)
Battery: Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi; up to 9 hours on cellular
Finish: Space grey, starlight, pink, purple, blue
Price: Wi-Fi – Dh2,499 (64GB) / Dh3,099 (256GB); cellular – Dh3,099 (64GB) / Dh3,699 (256GB)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
MATCH INFO
Burnley 1 (Brady 89')
Manchester City 4 (Jesus 24', 50', Rodri 68', Mahrez 87')
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