A taciturn Arab writer heads to a remote area in the north of Germany, contemplating suicide. It might not sound very cheery, but that’s one way of summarising Yunan, which was unveiled at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. It’s the only Arab-led film in main competition, although we never get to learn where Munir (Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz) comes from. It was a deliberate move by the film’s young writer-director Ameer Fakher Eldin. “I wanted to focus on his psychological journey to make it even more universal,” he tells The National.
Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that this story about displacement is a deeply personal one. “It’s very much my reality,” the filmmaker explains. He was raised in the Golan Heights, once a Syrian region, which has been under Israeli occupation for more than 50 years. “My parents are Syrian, but we cannot go to Syria.” To complicate matters, he was born in 1991 in Kyiv, Ukraine, where his parents were studying medicine. “We didn’t stay long, because after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was very hard to live there. So they came back to the Golan Heights.”
Like so many, his idea of home has become very skewed, maybe even a romantic illusion. “I have nothing to remember from Syria as a homeland, but it is my homeland. But what do I fantasise about? I kind of fantasise about a magical homeland that I never even knew.”
Displacement is not only geographical, but emotional, which may account for the film’s parable-like feel. In the film, Munir’s mother has Alzheimer’s and is beginning to forget her son. “The figure of the mother could be for me, in a sense, Syria,” the director adds. “Syria forgot about me.”
A co-production, with financing from Palestine, Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, among others, Yunan is easily the most dramatic-looking film of this year’s Berlinale selection. Much of this has to do with its stunning locale, Langeness, in Schleswig-Holstein. This is not an island, we learn, but a “hallig”, land that can become flooded. “Even Germans don’t know about this place,” says Fakher Eldin, who says it’s like going “to the edge of the world”. With its marginalised, conservative locals, it’s the perfect backdrop for a story about “the importance of how we should stop looking at others as threats”.
At its heart are two terrific performances, from Khabbaz and Hanna Schygulla, who plays Valeska, who owns a small boarding house and shows Munir kindness when he arrives without a room in Langeness. “Georges is an incredible actor,” says the director. “He’s a great artist and a super sensitive soul and very intelligent. He usually does more comedy, black comedy and he’s great at that. And I was thinking, ‘Okay, I’m really looking for a character that has sad eyes'.
"And he always wears these glasses. In one interview I saw with him without them. I said, ‘Wow.’ It was like he’s hiding. So I said, ‘You're gonna be without these glasses for the film'.”
Schygulla, now 81 years-old, is the beloved German actress famed for her collaborations with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder (she won Best Actress in Berlin for 1979’s The Marriage of Maria Braun). Fakher Eldin sent a hand-written note to her home in Paris. She agreed to meet and they spent time in a cafe in Paris, when he had a moment of dizziness. Fakher Eldin had been suffering from breathing problems, despite receiving a clean bill of health from his doctor. Was it stress? Or depression? A panic attack? Whatever the truth, he began to feel a shortness of breath in front of Schygulla.
“She noticed and she put her hand on my hand, and she told me, ‘Maybe you don’t need that much air'. I said, ‘Wow.’ I mean, I don’t know the woman. I mean, she’s a legend, of course, and she allows herself to be kind and to be motherly. She cared for my soul, without the need to know me so much, because she believes in that. I thought this is perfect for the role.”
It also plays out like this in the film, as Valeska calms Munir, with Schygulla delivering a warm, touching performance.
Yunan is also the second part of a trilogy. The first, Fakher Eldin’s feature debut, 2021’s The Stranger, dealt with an unlicensed doctor in Golan Heights who encounters a wounded solider from the war in Syria. If that was a film “about a man who feels a stranger among his own people”, Yunan is more about a “stranger amongst other strangers," he adds. “My characters are victims. I’m treating them also as victims of national crisis or wars.”
But victim is such a negative term. His planned third part will be different, he promises. “I want to actually stop looking as them as victims.”
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
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
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Company%20profile
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Structural%20weaknesses%20facing%20Israel%20economy
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RESULTS
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Profile of VoucherSkout
Date of launch: November 2016
Founder: David Tobias
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers
Sector: Technology
Size: 18 employees
Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake
Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars”
START-UPS%20IN%20BATCH%204%20OF%20SANABIL%20500'S%20ACCELERATOR%20PROGRAMME
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Top investing tips for UAE residents in 2021
Build an emergency fund: Make sure you have enough cash to cover six months of expenses as a buffer against unexpected problems before you begin investing, advises Steve Cronin, the founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com.
Think long-term: When you invest, you need to have a long-term mindset, so don’t worry about momentary ups and downs in the stock market.
Invest worldwide: Diversify your investments globally, ideally by way of a global stock index fund.
Is your money tied up: Avoid anything where you cannot get your money back in full within a month at any time without any penalty.
Skip past the promises: “If an investment product is offering more than 10 per cent return per year, it is either extremely risky or a scam,” Mr Cronin says.
Choose plans with low fees: Make sure that any funds you buy do not charge more than 1 per cent in fees, Mr Cronin says. “If you invest by yourself, you can easily stay below this figure.” Managed funds and commissionable investments often come with higher fees.
Be sceptical about recommendations: If someone suggests an investment to you, ask if they stand to gain, advises Mr Cronin. “If they are receiving commission, they are unlikely to recommend an investment that’s best for you.”
Get financially independent: Mr Cronin advises UAE residents to pursue financial independence. Start with a Google search and improve your knowledge via expat investing websites or Facebook groups such as SimplyFI.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: Dh99,000
On sale: now
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
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
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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.
