The red carpet at the Berlinale International Film Festival became a stage for protests on Saturday as Iranian film professionals, joined by jury president Kristen Stewart, protested against the brutality of Iran’s regime and demanded the release of imprisoned journalists and a hip-hop artist.
Extraction actress Golshifteh Farahani, also a member of the jury, The Siren director Sepideh Farsi, and Holy Spider actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi were among several Iranian filmmakers and talents participating in the protests. Festival co-heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek also took part in the rally.
The protesters unveiled a banner reading “Women, Life, Freedom!” as they urged the Iranian government to release Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi. The two journalists were imprisoned on charges of “conspiring against national security”, after being the first to report the death of Mahsa Amini, an activist who died in police custody — having been arrested for not properly wearing a head veil.
Protesters also chanted in support of rapper Toomaj Salehi, who could face the death penalty over accusations by the Iranian government of spreading propaganda.
The rally took place following a panel titled The Role of Cinema and the Arts in the Iranian Revolution. Panellists included Ebrahimi and Farsi, who expressed hope that the protests spreading across the country could help inspire change.
“This regime lies,” Farhani said in her opening speech as quoted by Variety. “The prisons of Iran are full of innocent people. We need you to stand on the right side of history with the Iranian people. This regime will fall.”
“The wall of dictatorship is a thick wall … the revolution in South Africa took 800 days, ours has been just five months,” she added. “This wall is one of oppression, attacking human rights. We need all of you. We need Germany, France, Europe. We need you to stand on the right side and to acknowledge it. Call it a revolution.”
Speaking to Variety about her film The Siren, Farsi said: “The end of the film has hope, and I really, really would like them [Iranians] to feel it as a glow of sun for the near future of Iran, because I’m really hoping that we will reach that victory soon.”
The Berlinale International Film Festival is the largest public film festival of its kind in the world and is known to serve as a platform for filmmakers and activists calling out against injustice. In her opening speech, Stewart underscored this, saying: “This festival in particular, historically, is in a positive way confrontational and political.”
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)
Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg
Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mica
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
Stars: Zakaria Inan, Sabrina Ouazani
3 stars
Sweet%20Tooth
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
