When the ongoing devastation in Lebanon began, Disney animator Louaye Moulayess was inconsolable. The country he was born and raised in was under threat, and lives across the country hung in the balance.
“When I heard the news of what’s happening in Lebanon, I talked to my manager, and I said: 'I need some time off. I need some isolation,'” Moulayess tells The National. “But after the first two or three days, I realised I couldn’t work from home either. I was feeling worse by myself.”
He was hard at work on Moana 2, the sequel to the beloved 2016 animated film, due to be released across the Middle East on Thursday. Sitting at home, he started thinking about the film he’d helped make – the story of a young Polynesian woman on a dangerous journey.
Moana is a strong-willed character, one who reflectively puts the weight of the world on her shoulders – something Moulayess relates to. But her journey cannot be completed alone. She relies on people from across cultures to join together to complete her grand mission.
“I realised, I need to go and be with people,” Moulayess says. "We’re stronger together. So I went back into the studio, back with my friends, and I found myself being creative again. This is the message of the film, and I really connected with that."
This isn’t the first time a Disney movie helped Moulayess through a hard time. In fact, if the power of a Disney classic hadn’t helped him during a key moment in his childhood, he may have never dreamt of travelling around the world to pursue animation.
“I remember, we had just heard bad news from a family member,” Moulayess says. "And that’s when I saw The Lion King. It just made me forget. It filled me with wonder.
“These movies can provide all sorts of things for kids – at times when you want to escape, when you want to have fun, when you want to forget and even when you want to remember that the world can be beautiful.”
And that’s what always pushed him through when making Moana 2. He knew what the first movie meant to children worldwide. At a difficult time for so many people in the region and around the world, perhaps this movie can not only act as a distraction but a reminder of the goodness of the human spirit.
“I really hope that when kids and adults see this movie, it will have the same effect that The Lion King had on me at that moment," he adds. "And I’m so lucky that I can help provide that.”
Growing up in Lebanon, Moulayess didn’t have the tools he needed to become an animator. He studied computer science and began training himself in computer animation, always aware of the vast distance between his small village on the Mediterranean and Burbank and San Francisco, the homes of Disney and Pixar respectively.
When he was 16, he found the email of a Pixar animator and worked up the courage to ask him for help. The animator replied right away, offering advice on how to attend animation school with a limited budget, and even where to study. The guidance worked, and he went to that exact school, landing an internship with Pixar after graduation.
To Moulayess’s surprise, his mentor at Pixar was that same man who had helped kickstart his journey years earlier. On the first day, he took his mentor aside and showed him the email he’d sent at 16.
“I looked him right in the eye and said: ‘I’m here because of you,'” says Moulayess.
Since then, Moulayess has worked on some of the biggest animated projects of the last decade, from The Peanuts Movie to Frozen 2 and Encanto. And even as established as he’s become, a vital voice on massive projects both because of his skill and invaluable cultural perspective, he thinks back to that brash teen who sent an email to a complete stranger.
“At the Disney Animation Studios, we have a wall in the hallway lined with artwork,” says Moulayess. "And every day, I walk down it, looking at what we’ve created together, and I often think about the kid I was.
"Never in a million years, sitting on the ground in my bedroom in Lebanon watching a VHS and then writing that email, did I think I’d be here one day. It’s magical.”
Each time he walks down that hallway, he’s a bit different. Animation continues to change, as technologies develop and open new creative possibilities. At the daily meetings, he and the team watch what they’re each creating, which fills him with inspiration and love for what he does. And the diverse community around him continues to enrich him, as they tackle those new problems together.
“On Moana 2, for example, we do something that rarely happens in the animated world. We let the characters age and explore how those changes manifest," he adds. "There are scenes where Moana is climbing a cliff in both movies, and we had to figure out how her physical and emotional changes – even her culture – affect her movements, down to the smallest detail."
As Moulayess traverses a changing landscape, he relies on his community, a shared love that both feeds and is fed by the very thing they make together.
“Everything we do, we do as a team," he says. "What happened to me is what happens in the movie. It connected me to this, and it connects us all.”
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
The biog
Name: Sari Al Zubaidi
Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati
Age: 42
Marital status: single
Favourite drink: drip coffee V60
Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia
Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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List of UAE medal winners
Gold
Faisal Al Ketbi (Open weight and 94kg)
Talib Al Kirbi (69kg)
Omar Al Fadhli (56kg)
Silver
Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Khalfan Belhol (85kg)
Zayed Al Mansoori (62kg)
Mouza Al Shamsi (49kg women)
Bronze
Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi (Open and 94kg)
Saood Al Hammadi (77kg)
Said Al Mazroui (62kg)
Obaid Al Nuaimi (56kg)
Bashayer Al Matrooshi (62kg women)
Reem Abdulkareem (45kg women)
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
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The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
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Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
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The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
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Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
