Roman Polanski's new film An Officer and a Spy topped the list of nominations on Wednesday for the "French Oscars", sparking outrage from many.
The controversial director has been wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl since 1978 and is persona non grata in Hollywood.
His period drama about the Dreyfus affair, which rocked France at the turn of the 20th century, is in line for 12 Cesars, the French equivalent of the Oscars.
The head of the French film academy Alain Terzian said it "should not take moral positions" about giving awards.
But their choice was condemned by the French equality minister, feminist groups and some film critics.
"If rape was an art, give all the Cesars to Polanski," tweeted the French women's group, Osez le feminisme (Dare to Be Feminist). "By celebrating a fugitive rapist and child sex criminal, we silence the victims," it added, urging supporters to demonstrate outside the awards ceremony on Friday, February 28.
Equality minister Marlene Schiappa was equally scathing. "What message are they trying to send?" she told French radio. "Clearly the French film industry has a way to go when it comes to sexist and sexual violence," she added.
"I don't think they respect women and particularly victims who have spoken out."
Culture Minister Franck Riester commented the academy was free to make its choices but added that he would continue to defend "creative freedom with the same determination with which I daily combat all forms of sexist and sexual violence."
"It is high time for cinema professionals to distance themselves clearly from the Cesar. I dare hope the vast majority of them and Franck Riester will refuse to attend the ceremony," retorted Alice Coffin, of feminist group La Barbe.
Cinemas picketed
British film critic Caspar Salmon was also biting in his criticism.
"The Cesar awards are literally inviting an actor who was a victim of sexual assault by a director when she was a child (Adele Haenel), and a director who sexually abused a child (Roman Polanski), to be in the same room together for a big celebration of film."
Haenel, who was nominated for best actress for her performance in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, last year told how she was sexually harassed from the age of 12 on her first film. French director Christophe Ruggia was charged with sexual assault on a minor earlier this month.
Polanski, 86, won both best director and the critics' prize at the Venice film festival in August for An Officer and a Spy, which has been a big hit at the French box office despite a wave of protests.
Some screenings had to be cancelled after feminist protesters invaded or blockaded cinemas.
The publicity campaign for the film was also halted after French photographer Valentine Monnier claimed that she had also been raped by the director in 1975.
Monnier, an 18-year-old model and actress at the time, said Polanski tried to drug her as he beat her "into submission" at his Swiss chalet.
Polanski "absolutely denied" assaulting Monnier, pouring scorn on her story.
Unhealthy tolerance
The director, who sparked uproar at Venice by comparing his hounding by the media to the anti-Semitic persecution Dreyfus suffered, blamed the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for his woes.
He said Weinstein had tried to brand him a "child rapist" to stop him winning an Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist.
Terzian strongly defended the French academy's right to honour Polanski's new film.
"Unless I am wrong, 1.5 million French people have gone to see his film. Go ask them," he shot back when asked if the academy should be celebrating Polanski.
Les Miserables, a tough drama set in the poor and restive poor suburbs of Paris, which is also in the running for a best foreign language Oscar, picked up 11 Cesar nominations, just behind Polanski's film.
Ladj Ly's film is also battling against Polanski and By the Grace of God, Francois Ozon's film about clerical child sex abuse, in the best film and best director categories.
La Belle Epoque also got 11 nominations, one ahead of Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
The Polanski controversy quickly became one of the top trending topics on French social media, with many comparing the tolerance the director enjoys from the film industry to that granted until recently to the disgraced veteran writer Gabriel Matzneff, who had written for decades about his sexual activity with adolescents.
Matzneff, who is being investigated by French police, said Wednesday that he regretted his sex tourism trips to Asia, claiming that at the time "no one ever said it was a crime".
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.”
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