Culture Bites: Dune mania comes to Abu Dhabi, and does anyone actually like Madame Web?


  • English
  • Arabic

In this week’s episode of the Culture Bites podcast, hosts Enas Refaei and Farah Andrews start with highlights of the 77th British Academy Film Awards, from red carpet appearances, to dresses made by regional designers and the artists showing solidarity with people affected by the conflicts in Gaza and Yemen.

They also talk about Abu Dhabi hosting the Middle East premiere of Dune: Part Two, and discuss other movies filmed in Abu Dhabi such as Star Wars, Mission: Impossible 7 and Furious 7.

Farah then dives into the internet buzz around the Spider-Man-adjacent Sony film, Madame Web. She navigates through the negative fan commentary online and the positive reviews from film critics, such as The National’s own review.

Arts and Culture reporter Maan Jalal also joins the conversation to talk about The Circle Was a Point, a group exhibition at The Foundry presented by Barjeel Art Foundation and recalls what caught his eye at Ripe Market in Dubai.

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

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Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others

Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.

As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.

Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.

“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”

Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.

“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”

Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.

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Updated: February 29, 2024, 9:07 AM
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