The film adaptation of the Emirati writer Maha Gargash's bestselling book The Sand Fish has secured a distribution deal.
MAD Solutions announced that it will handle the yet-to-be-filmed movie, a coming of age film called Sandfish, which will be directed by the Saudi Arabian filmmaker and actress Ahd Kamel, and co-produced by From A to B producer Paul Baboudjian's new Dubai-based Tharwa Productions and creative producer Alessandra Priante. The screenplay was written by the Oscar-nominated When I Saw You writer/director Annemarie Jacir.
Abdallah Al Shami, GCC managing partner MAD Solutions, says: “MAD’s strategy is to try to work with a pan-Arab mindset with less focus on the country of origin. We also strive to open new channels of distribution for different genres in the film market.”
Kamel said: “I’m very honoured and blessed to collaborate with such great producers who feel very devoted to what they believe in and put so much faith in me to help make their dream come true.”
Sandfish was one of the finalists for IWC Filmmakers Award that was part of this year's 11th edition of Dubai International Film Festival.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
