Toronto film festival focuses on Arab contenders

The Toronto International Film Festival, one of the world's leading events and traditionally a time when likely Oscar contenders are given their world or international premieres, has announced the first slate of almost 50 films for this September's schedule, and there are some big-hitting regional names among the movies announced so far.
Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hany Abu Assad, director of Omar, Paradise Now and The Idol, will premiere his Hollywood debut, The Mountain Between Us, at Tiff. Abu Assad steps into the A-list with his new film, directing stars Idris Elba and Kate Winslet in this action thriller about two strangers forced to work together to survive after being stranded in a mountain wilderness after a plane crash. Look out for our interview with the film's stars when it goes on general release in October.

Pioneering Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour will also make her Hollywood debut at Tiff. Al Mansour's previous movie, Wadjda, was the first film to be nominated by Saudi Arabia in the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Al Mansour was then invited to team up with Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, Maleficent's Elle Fanning and The Riot Club's Douglas Booth on Mary Shelley, a biopic of the Frankenstein author and wife of poet Percy Shelley, which will also premiere in Toronto.

A little further afield, three Indian movies will have their world premieres at the festival. Anurag Kashyap's Mukkabaaz (The Brawler) will debut, alongside The Hungry by Bornila Chatterjee and Hansal Mehta's Omerta. Omerta tells the story of British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Mehta said: "Omerta is my most provocative film so far. It is a chilling political thriller – a reminder of the volatile times we live in. I'm delighted for the entire team that has patiently and diligently worked on this very difficult film."
The film's star Rajkummar Rao said: "I'm extremely happy that it's been selected for Tiff. After Shahid, it's my next film that's been selected for this prestigious film festival."
Tiff's artistic director Cameron Bailey has trimmed the line-up this year by a fifth, supposedly to give the films that do show more opportunity to stand out, but there's still plenty to get excited about in the new, leaner line-up.
Angelina Jolie makes her Netflix directorial debut with her adaptation of Loung Ung's harrowing Cambodian memoirs First They Killed My Father. Jolie shot the movie while then-husband Brad Pitt was filming War Machine in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, and passed through the UAE enroute to the Cambodian set. Another big name taking a turn behind the camera at Tiff is George Clooney, who directs Matt Damon in the Coen Brothers-scripted crime comedy Suburbicon.
Making his directorial debut, meanwhile, will be Hollywood's go-to motion-capture actor, Andy Serkis – Gollum from The Lord of the Rings and Caesar from the recent Planet of the Apes movies. Breathe stars Andrew Garfield as a man who is paralysed after suffering from polio.
There are also films from big-name directors including Guillermo del Toro, who brings his sci-fi flick The Shape of Water, starring Sally Hawkins, to town.
Darren Aronofsky also returns to the screen with the Jennifer Lawrence-starring psychological horror Mother!, while Greta Gerwig writes and directs Lady Bird.
Tiff can usually be relied on as a good sounding board for next year's Oscar hopefuls – last year's festival gave premieres to nominees including La La Land, Arrival and Nocturnal Animals. Films already being hyped for Oscar contention include Mother!, Margot Robbie's portrayal of controversial figure skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya and Dee Rees's Mississippi-set race drama Mudbound.
The Toronto International Film Festival takes place from September 7 to 17. Check out the full listings at www.tiff.net

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ENGLAND SQUAD

Team: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Sam Simmonds

Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell

Analysis

Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Meydan card

6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (PA) Group 1 US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm: Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) $100,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,200m
8.50pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) Group 2 $350,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,600m

Tips for SMEs to cope

Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
Make sure you have an online presence
Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.

The Bio

Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959

Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.

He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses

Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas

His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s

Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business

He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery

Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.