The Transfiguration director Michael O'Shea on vampires in the cinema

The movie obsessively references every corner of vampire culture – are you a big fan of vampires yourself?

Not really, actually. Milo's [main character] a big fan of vampires. I just had to do enough work to pretend I knew a lot about vampires, so I could convince the audience Milo was a big fan of vampires. It's not knowledge, it's Wikipedia. I had it in my head that Milo would be so meticulous he'd have read every book going to find out what the rules for vampires are in every different work of fiction, but then I found out that Wikipedia has this actual chart of every book ever written and what the rules are. I then had to convince myself that Milo is a very thorough boy, so he'd read the books anyway for the nuance, and because Wikipedia isn't always correct. It was kind of a circle. I came up with this idea for the character, and then of course it turned out someone had done it already because "it's the internet, of course someone did it already".

Vampires have been synonymous with cinema since the days of Nosferatu. What makes the genre so enduring?

The key to the genre is immortality. I think the key to everything is fear of death, and how we handle that. I think as the world becomes more secular, death becomes more terrifying and vampires become more attractive. In the past vampires were something people really didn't want to be. They showed that if you didn't die you became this horrible monster that sucks blood; then somewhere through books and especially cinema, they transformed into this aspirational creature where you've got a vegetarian vampire who twinkles in the sun. It's become about living forever and vampires are suddenly something we look up to, something that cheats death.

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Each era seems to have its own take on the genre, from early expressionist interpretations to the corny Hammer era, to cool 80s vampires like The Lost Boys, then teen-romances like Twilight more recently. Do you have a favourite era?

I'm with Milo. I like my films to be realistic, so he lists off basically my favourite vampire films by decade in the movie. From the 70s I love Martin, from the 80s Near Dark by Kathryn Bigelow, Shadow of the Vampire in the 90s and Let the Right One In a few years ago. I do prefer the more postmodern, contemporary stuff rather than Hammer or the really old stuff, films that comment on the whole thing a little, that are maybe a bit meta with it. I like that sense of commentary that comes with post-60s cinema.

Do you hate Twilight as much as Milo?

I don't hate Twilight as much as the film might make it appear. I'm just kind of making fun of the whole aspirational vampire thing, and also I think it's a very funny character idea that Milo would be confronted with Twilight. He's a very serious hipster when it comes to vampires so for him to be confronted with Twilight, which is the exact opposite, I just thought it was funny. And then he actually reads the book, which is kind of comedy to me in a very serious movie.

There have been some incredible performances as vampires, from Max Schreck to Brad Pitt. Do you have a favourite (not including Milo)?

Off the top of my head, I'd say Willem Dafoe playing Nosferatu in Shadow of the Vampire. That's pretty good. Though Bill Paxton in Near Dark with the boots that slit people's throats – that's a great action vampire. But I'm going stick with Willem, he such a great actor. It's a tough one, but him.

'Nightmare Alley'

Director:Guillermo del Toro

Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara

Rating: 3/5

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NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

Simran

Director Hansal Mehta

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey

Three stars

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
not be younger than 25 years old
not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially

Company%20Profile

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Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Dates for the diary

To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:

September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.

RESULTS

Time; race; prize; distance

4pm: Maiden; (D) Dh150,000; 1,200m
Winner: General Line, Xavier Ziani (jockey), Omar Daraj (trainer)

4.35pm: Maiden (T); Dh150,000; 1,600m
Winner: Travis County, Adrie de Vries, Ismail Mohammed

5.10pm: Handicap (D); Dh175,000; 1,200m
Winner: Scrutineer, Tadhg O’Shea, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

5.45pm: Maiden (D); Dh150,000; 1,600m
Winner: Yulong Warrior, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar

6.20pm: Maiden (D); Dh150,000; 1,600m
Winner: Ejaaby, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson

6.55pm: Handicap (D); Dh160,000; 1,600m
Winner: Storyboard, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar

7.30pm: Handicap (D); Dh150,000; 2,200m
Winner: Grand Dauphin, Gerald Mosse, Ahmed Al Shemaili

8.05pm: Handicap (T); Dh190,000; 1,800m
Winner: Good Trip, Tadhg O’Shea, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

HER%20FIRST%20PALESTINIAN

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PROFILE OF HALAN

Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5