“It’s a good time for Egyptian cinema,” says writer-director Mohamed Rashad. “It’s everywhere. It’s in Berlin. Some films were in Cannes and Venice. So it’s a good time for Egyptian cinema. Especially arthouse cinema.”
Rashad is one of several Egyptian filmmakers presenting works at this year’s prestigious Berlin International Film Festival, known as Berlinale. His tough-minded workplace drama The Settlement had its premiere this week in the Perspectives strand, a new €50,000 ($52,300) competitive section for international debut fiction features.
Alongside this, The Tale of Daye’s Family by Karin El-Shenawy screened in the Generation 14-plus line-up; while The Last Day, the debut short by Egyptian filmmaker Mahmoud Ibrahim, featured in Forum Expanded, a strand for more experimental fare.
East of Noon, directed by Hala Elkoussy, also opened Berlin Critics’ Week, a selection of films that runs parallel to the main festival. That film’s star, Fayza Shama, has also been selected as one of the Berlinale Talents, an initiative showcasing actors, directors and more from around the globe.
“I think we have a new generation of filmmakers,” Rashad tells The National when he sits down to discuss his film in the Potsdamer Platz’s plush Hyatt Hotel. It’s hard to disagree. Take a walk to the EFM, the European Film Market, based nearby and there’s even a poster reminding us that Eagles of the Republic by Tarik Saleh is in production. The $10 million political thriller, starring Fares Fares, is the third in Saleh’s Cairo trilogy following The Nile Hilton Incident and Boy From Heaven, which had its premiere in Cannes in 2022.
Ask Rashad why he feels this new generation of Egyptian filmmakers is suddenly making waves in the world of cinema, and he answers simply: “They want to express themselves more.”
In his case, The Settlement is a film that deals both with the personal and the political. Set in an industrial corner of Alexandria, the primary setting is a steel factory. The twenty-something Hossam (Adham Shukr), a former drug dealer, is offered a job as some sort of twisted compensation after his father perished there in an accident.
Joining Hossam is his 12-year-old brother Maro (Ziad Islam), who is also desperate to avenge their father’s death. With murder in mind, there path is heading towards self-destruction. “I’m interested in what’s going on in families, the relationships between family members,” says Rashad. “Not just Hossam and his father, but also Hossam and Maro. He feels like he’s a father to him. So this relationship to me is very interesting. What you expect from your father, what your father expects from you.”
Rashad’s 2016 documentary Little Eagles went along similar lines, detailing his relationship with his father, as he tries to pursue his own dreams of becoming a filmmaker. “I felt that we’re not satisfied with each other,” he explains. “He wasn’t satisfied with me. But at some point, we managed to have a good relationship. Actually my sister, after the screening of the film, was crying and she told me: ‘I felt that your relationship with our father got better. And after watching the film I know why.’”
While The Settlement deals with issues of family first and foremost, it also has a political dimension to it, says Rashad. The film explores the dangers of capitalism, in a society where the interests “of the powerful” often override all else.
In this case, safety laws in Egyptian factories aren’t always adhered to when there are profits to be made. “It’s all about capitalism,” he says. “Safety costs.” Is his film a critique of Egyptian society? “For sure, it’s a criticism,” he says. The new generation of Egyptian cinema starts here.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
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
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
How it works
Booklava works on a subscription model. On signing up you receive a free book as part of a 30-day-trial period, after which you pay US$9.99 (Dh36.70) per month to gain access to a library of books and discounts of up to 30 per cent on selected titles. You can cancel your subscription at any time. For more details go to www.booklava.com
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
Saturday's results
West Ham 2-3 Tottenham
Arsenal 2-2 Southampton
Bournemouth 1-2 Wolves
Brighton 0-2 Leicester City
Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Everton 0-2 Norwich City
Watford 0-3 Burnley
Manchester City v Chelsea, 9.30pm
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
India Test squad
Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Vijay, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday Stuttgart v Cologne (Kick-off 10.30pm UAE)
Saturday RB Leipzig v Hertha Berlin (5.30pm)
Mainz v Borussia Monchengladbach (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v SC Freiburg (5.30pm)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (5.30pm)
Sunday Wolfsburg v Arminia (6.30pm)
Werder Bremen v Hoffenheim (9pm)
Bayer Leverkusen v Augsburg (11.30pm)
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Director: Shady Ali
Cast: Boumi Fouad , Mohamed Tharout and Hisham Ismael
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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