One of the most eagerly awaited guests at this year's Middle East Film & Comic Con held at Dubai's World Trade Centre was, undoubtedly, Gillian Anderson, the star of The X-Files, The Fall and Hannibal.
With the recent announcement that The X-Files is being revived for a small-screen run of six episodes – featuring both Anderson and her erstwhile co-star David Duchovny – fans were thrilled to see her and most wanted to ask her about what to expect from it, her experiences of investigating the paranormal and what it was like hanging out with the serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the critically acclaimed The Silence of the Lambs TV spin-off, Hannibal.
It is perhaps understandable, then, that Anderson seemed genuinely shocked when, in the brief time I was allotted to quiz her, I chose a very different opening subject.
Her 2014 film Sold tells the story of a 13-year-old Nepalese girl who is trafficked to India to work in a brothel. For me, it was one of the highlights, as well as one of the most harrowing films, of last year's Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
“Wow. I didn’t know anybody had seen that,” says Anderson. “The film is about the sex trade of young girls in India, but it’s something that happens all over the world, every day, under our noses.”
Anderson says that she had known the film’s writer and director Jeffrey D Brown for some time and was happy to help raise awareness of the issue.
“He sent me the script at a point when the character I played, I think, had no dialogue, but asked if I would jump on board anyway for the sake of the cause and I said yes.”
Anderson’s non-speaking role soon became more vocal.
“Then Emma Thompson came on board as an executive producer,” she says. “And Jeffrey met a humanitarian photographer called Lisa Kristine who had spent the past seven years or so documenting and bearing witness to human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
“It’s a serious, serious, serious issue that is not properly being dealt with or recognised in the world today. Lisa has risked her life many times over to bear witness. So Jeffrey based this character in the story on her and added some scenes and asked if I would still be on board, and it fitted into my schedule, so I got on board and I got the pleasure of going to Kolkata and completely loved it there.
“It’s still showing at festivals, I think, and there’s a specific campaign around it about human- and sex-trafficking. It’s definitely raising awareness and I would ask everyone to look it up and support it.”
Of course, I couldn't let one of the biggest TV stars of the 1990s – and the winner of FHM magazine's coveted award for most beautiful woman in the world in 1996 – go without asking about her most famous role and an update on the revival.
“I am reprising the role of Dana Scully,” she says. “We’re going to do six episodes this year in Vancouver, starting in June. We’re gonna have to be pushed around in wheelchairs – I’m 46 now. It’s Crazy. Really crazy. The fact we were even doing any more episodes was never on the cards, so I think I’m still in denial.”
And why does the show remain so enduringly popular? “It was basically David [Duchovny] and I being the most brilliant characters in the history of television,” she says with a smile.
For more information about Sold and the campaign to end the exploitation of children around the world, visit www.soldthemovie.com
cnewbould@thenational.ae
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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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
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Power: 320bhp
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
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French Touch
Carla Bruni
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Company%20Profile
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Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Pakistan squad
Sarfraz (c), Zaman, Imam, Masood, Azam, Malik, Asif, Sohail, Shadab, Nawaz, Ashraf, Hasan, Amir, Junaid, Shinwari and Afridi
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
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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)
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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