Palestinian film director Nasri Hajjaj on May 16, 2016, speaks up about the controversy surrounding his yet to be completed documentary "Munich : A Palestinian Story" during the Cannes Film Market held on the sidelines of the 69th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. Ammar Abd Rabbo/AFP
Palestinian film director Nasri Hajjaj on May 16, 2016, speaks up about the controversy surrounding his yet to be completed documentary "Munich : A Palestinian Story" during the Cannes Film Market held on the sidelines of the 69th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. Ammar Abd Rabbo/AFP
Palestinian film director Nasri Hajjaj on May 16, 2016, speaks up about the controversy surrounding his yet to be completed documentary "Munich : A Palestinian Story" during the Cannes Film Market held on the sidelines of the 69th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. Ammar Abd Rabbo/AFP
Palestinian film director Nasri Hajjaj on May 16, 2016, speaks up about the controversy surrounding his yet to be completed documentary "Munich : A Palestinian Story" during the Cannes Film Market hel

Palestinian director defends Munich Olympics film at Cannes


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CANNES // When Palestinian film maker Nasri Hajjaj booked his place at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, he probably expected to be just another largely unknown Arab film maker with a project he hoped to fund.

But the 13-minute clip of Hajjaj's unfinished documentary, Munich: A Palestinian Story, eclipsed many of the gathered Hollywood royalty to become one of the most talked-about events of this year's festival.

The film offers an Arab perspective on the 1972 deadly assault on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, in which eight gunmen from the Palestinian guerrilla group Black September took members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage. Eleven Israelis, five Palestinians and one German policeman were killed in the standoff and subsequent rescue attempt.

The militants had demanded the release of 236 prisoners held in Israeli prisons – including Palestinian activists and members of the left-wing German guerrilla organisation, the Red Army Faction – which Israel rejected.

The film is partly funded by Dubai International Film Festival’s Enjaaz fund. It would doubtless have remained an underground documentary if the Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France – an umbrella body for French Jewish organisations – had not begun a campaign to have the screening banned. Even the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, stepped in to support the ban, claiming it could threaten “public order”.

After much uncertainty, the private screening finally went ahead at around 5.30pm on Monday – during its orginally scheduled time slot. The National spoke with Hajjaj afterwards to hear what he thought about the controversy.

“They made all this fuss,” said Hajjaj. “They called it a film. It’s not a film. It’s a 13-minute industry screening. It’s not even finished yet.”

“They said it encourages terrorism. Nothing in it encourages terrorism. And when it is finished nothing in the whole film will encourage terrorism,” he said.

“These people talking of bans, they haven’t even seen the film – because as yet there is no film. They haven’t seen it and they want to ban it. They have stereotypes in their mind,” he added, insisting the film is not a threat to public order.

“It’s a threat to the way people think. A threat to whether you are free in your mind or you are not free in your mind. To whether you want to be human or you do not want to be human. To whether you want to think of other people and their lives, and if they have justice and peace, this is the question.”

It is not the first time that the events of Munich have been covered on screen, but Hajjaj says he hopes to offer a different perspective with his interpretation.

"The Israelis have had since 1976 – when the first film [21 hours at Munich] was made about this – to 2006 when the Spielberg film [Munich] was made to tell their own story. Sometimes very biased, sometimes less biased, but there has never been a film from a Palestinian or Arab perspective."

“Why do I not have the right to tell this story? I am a party to it, a second party, but a party,” said Hajjaj, who grew up in a Lebanese refugee camp with one of the hostage-takers, Afif Hamid, who was killed in the Munich operation.

“See the film and then judge,” he said.

The maxim goes that all publicity is good publicity.

And judging by the number of international press that flocked to the Cannes’ UAE Pavilions to try to catch a word with Hajjaj – some even leaning over the fence from the adjoining Greek Pavilion after the UAE’s reached capacity – his film should have no trouble winning funding.

The director himself is not so sure though. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe the publicity will help, but maybe some producers will look at this and won’t be happy to support finishing the film because we have all these protests.” He expects another three days of shooting to complete the film.

“I think it’s a film that really asks questions,” he concluded. “It doesn’t give answers, it just asks questions and I give my interpretation. That may be wrong or bad, I don’t know, but I’m not dogmatic, I’m not a fundamentalist, I’m not a fervent Palestinian nationalist.”

“I lived half of my life in a camp, I’m 65 now, and that’s why I feel the Palestinian story. Without that issue of suffering Palestinians have had since 1948, I wouldn’t care.”

“I just want to offer another side to the story, because it’s my story too.”

cnewbould@thenational.ae

Schedule for Asia Cup

Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)

Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)

Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)

Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)

Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four

Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai) 

Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)

Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)

Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 28: Final (Dubai)

If you go

The flights

Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Chicago from Dh5,215 return including taxes.

The hotels

Recommended hotels include the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, located in an iconic skyscraper complete with a 1929 Olympic-size swimming pool from US$299 (Dh1,100) per night including taxes, and the Omni Chicago Hotel, an excellent value downtown address with elegant art deco furnishings and an excellent in-house restaurant. Rooms from US$239 (Dh877) per night including taxes. 

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

UAE Falcons

Carly Lewis (captain), Emily Fensome, Kelly Loy, Isabel Affley, Jessica Cronin, Jemma Eley, Jenna Guy, Kate Lewis, Megan Polley, Charlie Preston, Becki Quigley and Sophie Siffre. Deb Jones and Lucia Sdao – coach and assistant coach.

 
The specs

Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Power: 300hp

Torque: 420Nm

Price: Dh189,900

On sale: now

Brief scores:

Kashima Antlers 0

River Plate 4

Zuculini 24', Martinez 73', 90 2', Borre 89' (pen)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
 
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
 
Don’t be afraid to negotiate

It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
 
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
 
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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
Britain's travel restrictions
  • A negative test 2 days before flying
  • Complete passenger locator form
  • Book a post-arrival PCR test
  • Double-vaccinated must self-isolate
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11 cabbie-recommended restaurants and dishes to try in Abu Dhabi

Iqbal Restaurant behind Wendy’s on Hamdan Street for the chicken karahi (Dh14)

Pathemari in Navy Gate for prawn biryani (from Dh12 to Dh35)

Abu Al Nasar near Abu Dhabi Mall, for biryani (from Dh12 to Dh20)

Bonna Annee at Navy Gate for Ethiopian food (the Bonna Annee special costs Dh42 and comes with a mix of six house stews – key wet, minchet abesh, kekel, meser be sega, tibs fir fir and shiro).

Al Habasha in Tanker Mai for Ethiopian food (tibs, a hearty stew with meat, is a popular dish; here it costs Dh36.75 for lamb and beef versions)

Himalayan Restaurant in Mussaffa for Nepalese (the momos and chowmein noodles are best-selling items, and go for between Dh14 and Dh20)

Makalu in Mussaffa for Nepalese (get the chicken curry or chicken fry for Dh11)

Al Shaheen Cafeteria near Guardian Towers for a quick morning bite, especially the egg sandwich in paratha (Dh3.50)

Pinky Food Restaurant in Tanker Mai for tilapia

Tasty Zone for Nepalese-style noodles (Dh15)

Ibrahimi for Pakistani food (a quarter chicken tikka with roti costs Dh16)

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Match info:

Wolves 1
Boly (57')

Manchester City 1
Laporte (69')

The story of Edge

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.

It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.

Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.

Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab

 

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young