The Sharjah Film Platform will accept submissions until Saturday, April 26. Courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation
The Sharjah Film Platform will accept submissions until Saturday, April 26. Courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation
The Sharjah Film Platform will accept submissions until Saturday, April 26. Courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation
The Sharjah Film Platform will accept submissions until Saturday, April 26. Courtesy Sharjah Art Foundation

Ones to watch: unmissable movies at Sharjah Film Platform


Razmig Bedirian
  • English
  • Arabic

The Sharjah Film Platform (SFP) kicks off , bringing more than 50 movies from around the world to the emirate. The screenings are taking place at Mirage City Cinema and Al Hamra Cinema, one of Sharjah's oldest movie theatres, until Saturday, December 21. The festival presents short and feature-length films, including documentaries and experimental works, all of which were selected through an open call.

Three short films which were awarded the foundation's Short Film Production Grant premiered on opening night. Children of the Lake, directed by Filipino filmmaker Emerson Reyes, is first of the three. While playing cops and robbers near the lake, Lele and Belle encounter a lone soldier, who is being hunted down for conspiring to take over their land. The children's innocent pastime turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

From the Mountain is directed by Arab-American filmmaker Faisal Attrache. Set in 1922, it tells the story of Syrian farmer and local leader who must decide whether to fight for the freedom of the nation he is striving to build or for the safety and security of his family and community.

Layla, At Last, directed by American filmmaker Julian Alexander tells the story of Layla, who feels a strange familiarity with the Atlas Mountain region in Morocco. It was where her mother lived before moving to Europe. With her mother gone, Layla feels like she has lost her connection with her culture. She soon finds herself in Morocco, following up on reported sightings of Atlas lions, which were long thought to be extinct. As she searches for these lions, Layla travels through remote lands, crossing paths with faces from her mother's stories that are now too familiar.

The festival's public programme also brings together filmmakers, artists and audiences for a range of talks on current issues in filmmaking and the industry. The talks and workshops are free and open to the public.

Happening for the first time this year is the festival's Pitching Forum, a closed, invitation-only event, that serves as a meeting platform for aspiring filmmakers to meet industry professionals. It allows people to receive feedback on their work and find potential collaborators for future productions.  

At the end of the festival, an international jury will award the winners of the best narrative, best documentary and best experimental film awards. The monetary prize will support a filmmaker's future production project.

Across the eight-day festival, more than a dozen films will be screened in each of the short film categories: documentary, narrative and experimental.

Some films to watch out for are: All Inclusive, directed by Swiss filmmaker Corina Schwingruber Ilic, a 10-minute documentary with no dialogue that takes viewers under the spell of mass entertainment on the high seas.

Also, Iranian-director Mohammadreza Vatandoust's Lotus, which tells the story of an old woman who has waited 12 years for permission to cross the Lafour Lake so she can reach an island where the last resident of Lafourak waits for her.

In a 15-minute Japanese experimental film, director Andy Amadi Okoroafor sheds light on loneliness and solitude in a modern world as expressed through dance. Blockhouse is part of a five-part series and is a story told in the context of the high suicide rate in Japan.

Another experimental short film is Ieva Saudargaite Douaihi's Permission to Land. Shot in locations that used to serve as landing strips or airports, the film explores Lebanon's forgotten aeronautical history.

'Liyana' by Aaron and Amanda Kopp. Sharjah Art Foundation
'Liyana' by Aaron and Amanda Kopp. Sharjah Art Foundation

The festival will also screen six feature-length films, including a documentary, Liyana, by Aaron and Amanda Kopp. The 77-minute film is an animated African tale borne in the imaginations of five orphaned children in Eswatini, who collaborate to tell a story of perseverance drawn from their darkest memories and brightest dreams.

Running for 65 minutes is an experimental film by Indian director Yashaswini Raghunandan, the film takes viewers to a village where people use discarded film reels to make toys such as rattlers and whistles. Every day they make hundreds of toys and for each of them, they splice, strip and rip strips of film. A few narratives leak out of the shredded analogues of film and fumigate the surroundings with phantasmagoria.

Screenings from Dh15. Tickets are available to purchase at www.sharjah­art.org

Bharat

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

EA Sports FC 25

At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17

At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF HALAN

Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

WandaVision

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany

Directed by: Matt Shakman

Rating: Four stars

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The Abu Dhabi Awards explained:

What are the awards? They honour anyone who has made a contribution to life in Abu Dhabi.

Are they open to only Emiratis? The awards are open to anyone, regardless of age or nationality, living anywhere in the world.

When do nominations close? The process concludes on December 31.

How do I nominate someone? Through the website.

When is the ceremony? The awards event will take place early next year.

UAE%20set%20for%20Scotland%20series
%3Cp%3EThe%20UAE%20will%20host%20Scotland%20for%20a%20three-match%20T20I%20series%20at%20the%20Dubai%20International%20Stadium%20next%20month.%3Cbr%3EThe%20two%20sides%20will%20start%20their%20Cricket%20World%20Cup%20League%202%20campaigns%20with%20a%20tri-series%20also%20involving%20Canada%2C%20starting%20on%20January%2029.%3Cbr%3EThat%20series%20will%20be%20followed%20by%20a%20bilateral%20T20%20series%20on%20March%2011%2C%2013%20and%2014.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters

The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.

The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.

Aldar Properties Abu Dhabi T10

*November 15 to November 24

*Venue: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

*Tickets: Start at Dh10, from ttensports.com

*TV: Ten Sports

*Streaming: Jio Live

*2017 winners: Kerala Kings

*2018 winners: Northern Warriors

Profile of VoucherSkout

Date of launch: November 2016

Founder: David Tobias

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers

Sector: Technology

Size: 18 employees

Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake

Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars” 

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases

A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.

One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait,  Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.

In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.

The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.

And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.

 

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
  • Flexible work arrangements
  • Pension support
  • Mental well-being assistance
  • Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
  • Financial well-being incentives