The third Amman International Film Festival concluded on Wednesday with an award ceremony celebrating some of the most impressive films in its programme.
The Black Iris Awards was held at The Royal Film Commission — Jordan in the presence of Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and Princess Rym Ali, the festival’s president. The ceremony honoured several films across three Arab categories. An international section also gave festivalgoers the chance to vote for their favourite foreign film.
The winners
Soula by Algerian filmmaker Salah Issaad won the Black Iris Award for Best Arab Feature-Length Narrative. Eleven films were competing in the category. The award was supplemented by a cash prize of $20,000.
The jury, which comprised director Nadine Khan, film critic Luciano Barisone and the novelist Samiha Khrais, also gave a special mention to the Somali film The Gravedigger’s Wife by Khadar Ahmed.
Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) by Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib won in the Feature-Length Arab Documentary category, in which seven films were competing. The jury for the $15,000 award consisted of film producer Irene Challand, editor Phil Jandaly and director Aseel Mansour.
The Special Mention went to Take Me to the Cinema by Iraqi filmmaker Albaqer Jafeer. The Blue Inmates by Lebanese director Zeina Daccache also received a Special Mention for its editor Myriam Geagea.
My Mother’s Voice by Mourad Hamla won the $5,000 award for Best Arab Short Film, for which 14 works were competing. The jury — composed of actress Carmen Lebbos, director Ameer Fakher Eldin and screenwriter Nadia Eliewat — awarded a Special Mention to The Mission by Jordanian filmmaker Mohammad Dabbas.
French director Florence Miailhe’s animation The Crossing was voted by the audience as the winner of the Best International Film Award. Nine films from beyond the Arab world were competing for the $5,000 award.
The Amman International Film Festival, which began on July 20, screened 49 narrative and documentary films from more than two dozen countries, most of which are from the Arab world. The films were screened across three locations in Amman, including the Drive-in cinema in the Abdali area, specially built for the festival, as well as the open-air theatre at the Royal Film Commission — Jordan and Taj Cinemas.
“We are happy with the cultural hype it generated in the country,” Nada Doumani, the festival’s director, said during the ceremony.
“The festival didn’t only build bridges between its guests but also between cinema professionals and the public at large. The festival is an incubator for talents and different narratives which speak to our minds and emotions.”
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
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The specs
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Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
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GAC GS8 Specs
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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.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
