It was a packed weekend of cinema at the Dubai International Film Festival, although politics stole the limelight following United States president Donald Trump's decision on Thursday to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Onscreen, highlights included a packed gala screening of family favourite Jumanji, and a standing ovation for James Franco's The Disaster Artist, which tells the story of The Room, Tommy Wiseau's US$6 million (Dh22 million), cult 2003 favourite, better known as "the worst film ever made".
On Thursday night, Cate Blanchett presented the $100,000 IWC Filmmaker Award to Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda) for her in-development project Miss Camel, the story of an aspiring Saudi artist who is desperate to escape her arranged marriage and study art in a neighbouring country.
The following evening, the glitzy Global Gift Gala rolled into Palazzo Versace Dubai, with performances from Despacito star Luis Fonsi and Singapore-based, Japanese opera singer Seia Lee among the acts working to loosen the crowd's wallets for the evening's charity auction. Among the night's biggest earners were a boxing glove worn by the legendary Muhammed Ali, which fetched $15,000 and a Salvador Dali engraving that sold for $20,000.
It was two artists in attendance however, who were the night's real big earners, however. Oscar-winning star of The Pianist Adrian Brody led the bidding for his own painting, which fetched $42,000, while British-Indian artist and philanthropist Sacha Jafri saw his piece rack up an impressive $275,000 final bid.
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Read more from Diff 2017:
[ Remembering the best feel-good hits ]
[ Emirati box office smash Hajwala set for 2018 sequel ]
[ Gallows humour fuels Christmas spirit in Nazareth-based comedy Wajib ]
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Perhaps unsurprisingly given current events, the shadow of politics hung heavy over the festival during the weekend. On Saturday, a group of Arab filmmakers led by directors, the Palestinian Annemarie Jacir and Iraqi-Dutch Mohamed Al-Daradji, and Jordanian-Canadian producer Rami Yasin launched a petition protesting Trump’s decision on Thursday to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
The petition stated: “As artists, filmmakers and media professionals working in the film industry, we take a stand on December 9, 2017, to express our sorrow and anger over this unjust decision.
We stand in solidarity with the Palestinians in Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, and an open Sacred City that belongs to all Muslims, Christians and Jews.
In your decision, Mr President, you have created more animosity, less faith and profound sorrow in the hearts and minds of all justice lovers in the world.
It is only extremism that will benefit from your decision and be fed by it. And extremism will drag down those who have now lost their last shreds of hope.
You and your decision will be the reason for renewed divisions and conflict around the world.
As members of the film industry, we will continue to express our concern, our care, our dedication and our just message through our films, and this spirit will go with us from festival to festival, until justice and peace prevail, to all people.”
US filmmaker and activist Rob Reiner (Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men), meanwhile, was even more scathing of the US commander-in-chief following the screening of his latest movie Shock and Awe, a damning account of the machinations and untruths that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Reiner told The National that he believes democracy itself is under threat from president Trump: "Right now we've got a president who says all Muslims should be banned from the country," he said. "We've got a president who says we should put a wall on our southern border to keep out rapists. We've got a president who is supporting a man who is accused of child molestation... . We've got a president who is attacking the law enforcement agencies and the media, all the outlets that carry out checks and balances on those in power. We've got a president who is turning his back on science and doesn't acknowledge global warming."
Reiner didn’t hold back as he moved onto the Jerusalem decision specifically. “Here’s the thing, his secretary of state had it right. This man is a moron,” he says. “The man is a moron. He has no concept of geopolitical events or how things are interconnected. There was no consideration that went into this decision, no outreach to allies in the Arab world, or even the non-Arab world to see what the impact of something like this is. It’s crazy, just crazy. All of our allies in the Arab world and even Europe have said that this is just a knuckle-headed move.”
With documentary Naila and the Uprising, the story of the first Palestinian Intifada, set to screen on Monday night, the debate could get a lot more heated yet.
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
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.”
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
The Boy and the Heron
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki
Rating: 5/5
SCORES IN BRIEF
Lahore Qalandars 186 for 4 in 19.4 overs
(Sohail 100,Phil Salt 37 not out, Bilal Irshad 30, Josh Poysden 2-26)
bt Yorkshire Vikings 184 for 5 in 20 overs
(Jonathan Tattersall 36, Harry Brook 37, Gary Ballance 33, Adam Lyth 32, Shaheen Afridi 2-36).
THE STRANGERS' CASE
Director: Brandt Andersen
Starring: Omar Sy, Jason Beghe, Angeliki Papoulia
Rating: 4/5
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
Glossary of a stock market revolution
Reddit
A discussion website
Redditor
The users of Reddit
Robinhood
A smartphone app for buying and selling shares
Short seller
Selling a stock today in the belief its price will fall in the future
Short squeeze
Traders forced to buy a stock they are shorting
Naked short
An illegal practice
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
