Algerian filmmaker Salah Issaad first met Soula Bahri, the co-writer and subject of his debut feature Soula, in 2011, during one particularly cold winter night in Batna.
Bahri was 17, pregnant and homeless. She had been ostracised by her family for carrying a child out of wedlock and had nowhere to go. Her friends, most of whom came from conservative families themselves, couldn’t offer her a place to stay, and she had to spend most of her days getting in and out of their cars.
“The first time I met her was similar to the way we see her in the film,” Issaad said during a discussion that followed Soula’s screening at the Amman International Film Festival. “A friend of a friend of a friend brought her to us. She didn’t know where to go so she came to stay with us in the car. Her story immediately inspired me.”
The two struck up a close friendship, and Bahri would often call Issaad when she was uncertain of where to go.
“She’d phone me at 3 or 4 in the morning,” he said. “I couldn’t bring her home, so we’d end up driving around.”
After studying cinema and filmmaking in France, Issaad approached Bahri about adapting her story in film and the two began a creative partnership, writing the script of Soula together. The film follows Bahri as she looks for a safe location for herself and her child, but is instead caught in a series of tragic events along the roads of Algeria.
Most of the events in Soula are based on Bahri’s lived experiences, albeit condensed into a single night. The characters that appear in Soula are also based on real people, and though they are portrayed by actors, Bahri herself takes on the lead role.
“Even as we were writing the script, she’d read the lines with emotion,” Issaad said. “Seeing her read, I knew no one else could take on the role of Soula.”
The film veers off from Bahri’s lived experiences in its final stretch, and a title screen briefly appears to demarcate fact from fiction. The film ends on a sombre and poetic note, which confronts the societal standards that pushed Soula, and many women like her, to homelessness and despair.
Given its subject matter, Soula is not an easy watch. The film's unflinching depiction of the tragic moments Bahri endured, however, does not feel gratuitous. The anxiety and discomfort it instils feel necessary, a visceral glimpse at a reality often sidelined and silenced.
Bahri’s life is now much more secure, Issaad said. She is a mother of three and her eldest child, who inspired the baby in the film, is now a bright girl who is at top of her class. Bahri herself is pursuing a career in filmmaking and has written a short script that Issaad described as “absolutely incredible.”
Yet, there are many women across the Middle East who have not had such opportunities.
Growing up, Issaad said he had often heard about young single mothers who were left to fend for themselves after being rejected by their families in the name of honour. In fact, Issaad was only 10 when he and a group of friends stumbled upon a baby who had been abandoned in a box.
“There is no doubt that he was a child born out of wedlock. His mother must have felt like she had no choice but to leave him. Perhaps if we did not find him, the baby would have died,” he said. “We took the baby to a friend’s mother, who then called the police.”
The film may not directly ease their plight, but by bringing attention to the experiences and tribulations of a single mother in Algeria, it could have a ripple effect.
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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
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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)
RESULTS
5pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner Thabet Al Reef, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Blue Diamond, Pat Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Hameem, Adrie de Vries, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6.30pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Shoja’A Muscat, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner Heros De Lagarde, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner Good Tidings, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
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It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
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Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
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Key 2013/14 UAE Motorsport dates
October 4: Round One of Rotax Max Challenge, Al Ain (karting)
October 1: 1 Round One of the inaugural UAE Desert Championship (rally)
November 1-3: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula One)
November 28-30: Dubai International Rally
January 9-11: 24Hrs of Dubai (Touring Cars / Endurance)
March 21: Round 11 of Rotax Max Challenge, Muscat, Oman (karting)
April 4-10: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Endurance)
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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