When Ahmed Malek was chosen to be one of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Rising Stars back in 2018, the young Egyptian knew it was a big moment. “Being a local actor in the Middle East, you won’t have this access to the international market,” he explains. From this, he got an agent and access to auditions, even if it meant self-taping in his parents’ basement in Cairo. “My young brother would help me and I would shout, ‘Mum, stay quiet! Don’t cook now!’”
Even before Toronto, Malek had starred in Clash, Mohamed Diab's powder-keg drama that opened the Un Certain Regard strand of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. But this all rather shows the difficulties facing Mena actors looking to further their careers abroad. Sometimes, it takes a stroke of dumb luck. Take The Furnace, Malek's first English-speaking role, which has just premiered in Venice and is now set to play at El Gouna Film Festival.
An Australian drama from talented first-timer Roderick MacKay, it sheds light on the long-forgotten history of Australia's cameleers during the gold rush of the late 1800s. When the director started casting, "Rod very naively typed in Google, 'Middle Eastern actors'," says Malek. "And then he found me – I don't know where – and saw me in a scene that I did on Egyptian TV. And he liked it so much."
There’s something quite amusing about this fumbled method of discovery. “It sounds like a totally token ‘white guy’ thing to do,” admits MacKay, sheepishly. “I couldn’t understand what anybody was saying because it was all in Arabic, but I was glued to this guy. He struck me as a very emotionally generous actor.” He sent the clip to his producers, who readily agreed and set up a Skype session with Malek.
See photos from 'The Furnace' screening at the 2020 El Gouna Film Festival:
No doubt, Malek's magnetism is striking in The Furnace. He plays Hanif, a young Afghan cameleer who befriends a bushman (David Wenham) on the run with some stolen gold. Like The Proposition crossed with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, "It's definitely a western," says Malek. "But it's a very unique western. It's western with Muslim cameleers, which you usually don't see, which would make it a one-of-a-kind western."
Malek knew very little about the history of the Muslim cameleers – predominantly Muslim and Sikh men from India, Afghanistan, and Persia. Transporting goods across the harsh Australian Outback, these men helped lay the nation’s infrastructure – railroads and telegraph lines. And then? “For pure racial, colonial reasons, they got kicked out after they’d done their work,” says Malek. “They weren’t permitted to come back.”
Tragically, these men had built lives in Australia, he adds. “This was what makes me sad, knowing the stories about how these men contributed so much. And then they were kicked out and left behind. It just makes you sad and reminds me of what’s going on nowadays, of the disaster that’s happening now between cultures. Everyone just clings to his culture, thinking that it’s superior.”
Sitting opposite me in a hotel garden on Venice's Lido, dressed in a natty green corduroy suit, the 25-year-old Malek speaks confidently in English. It's just one of four languages he had to use in The Furnace, alongside Dari, Pashto and Badimaya, an endangered tongue spoken by indigenous people in Western Australia. Linguistic difficulties were just one of the many things Malek had to overcome.
We are not only numbers dying on the news. We are humans, and we do art as well. And we are sensitive. We don't only have wars
Shot in a remote part of Western Australia, with temperatures pushing 50°C, air-conditioned trailers and hotel rooms were just a distant dream. “We were living in a cabin and next to my cabin … I had a sign that said ‘Beware of snakes’. I saw animals that I had never seen before in my whole life. Kangaroos, I’d never seen. So huge. I’d never seen koalas. I’d never seen dingos. I’d never seen tiger snakes.”
With swarms of flies constantly buzzing around the cast, it was a draining experience. “It was so hard to be honest. But I would say it helped me. The reality for me as an actor – feeling the toughness the heat, feeling the flies and the temperature – would also be the reality of the character. So it served me somehow.” Unsurprisingly, he spent a week recovering on a beach in Sydney afterwards.
Fortunately, Malek – who has been performing since he was 12 years old – is no newcomer to the business. "I come from a working class family. One of my family members saw me perform when I was a kid and he decided to take me to this casting agency and it started from there." In 2010, he got his big break starring as the young Hassan Al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, in the hit Egyptian television series El-Gama'a (The Brotherhood).
After attending the CCDC (Cairo Contemporary Dance Centre), a performing arts school that gave him a good grounding in movement and drama, Malek has worked steadily ever since. Believing the Egyptian film and TV industry is in good health, it’s vital that he and other homegrown actors get opportunities to “showcase our voices”, he adds, “to show the world that we are not only numbers dying on the news. We are humans, and we do art as well. And we are sensitive. We don’t only have wars.”
Since The Furnace, he's been back in Egypt filming several local projects – including multi-love story The Moon's Neighbor. But does he want to further his international career? "I am looking to make English films," he nods. "I'm just taking it step by step. If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen." While he tells me Joaquin Phoenix is his favourite performer, he's evidently not been swayed by Hollywood glitz.
"Either it's on a small stage in my hometown, or on the big screen in Venice, acting is my passion … I would act anywhere," he says. "Of course, we all have dreams. And of course, you always want to hit a break. But I'm trying as much as possible to take it slowly. To take every opportunity and give it my best." After The Furnace, he may find his name is being Googled an awful lot more.
'The Furnace' plays at El Gouna Film Festival, which runs from October 23 to 31
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
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What are the regulations?
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BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Turkey - because the government look after animals so well there.
Favourite film: I love scary movies. I have so many favourites but The Ring stands out.
Favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. I didn’t like the movies but I loved the books.
Favourite colour: Black.
Favourite music: Hard rock. I actually also perform as a rock DJ in Dubai.
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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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.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
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TV: BeIN Sports
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May 15: Yokohama, Japan
June 5: Leeds, UK
June 24: Montreal, Canada
July 10: Hamburg, Germany
Aug 17-22: Edmonton, Canada (World Triathlon Championship Final)
Nov 5-6 : Abu Dhabi, UAE
Date TBC: Chengdu, China
Who are the Soroptimists?
The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
Since then the group has grown exponentially around the world and is officially affiliated with the United Nations. The organisation also counts Queen Mathilde of Belgium among its ranks.
