After a year of collecting accolades from various international film festivals and award giving bodies, A Separation yesterday took one step closer to winning the most important one of all: Iran's first Oscar.
It was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for best foreign language film and another for best original screenplay. Also nominated for the foreign film nod are Belgium's Bullhead, Israel's Footnote, Poland's In Darkness and Canada's Monsieur Lazhar, which opened the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) in October.
A Separation, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, focuses on the dissolution of a marriage and the troubles that follow after the husband hires a young caretaker to assist his sick father, in his wife's absence. It has been acclaimed for its astute examination of how gender, class and religion divide contemporary Iranian society.
A Separation previously won the top film prize at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as the best foreign language film trophies at the Golden Globe Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review. It also won the special jury award at the ADFF. "Automatically, this success and good reception make the authorities more sensitive on me," Farhadi told The National at the ADFF.
Indeed, on January 17 the Tehran government issued a statement arguing A Separation showed a skewed version of the Islamic Republic. "Sometimes we see those who run these festivals grant precious awards to films whose main theme is centred on the poverty and hardships of a country's people," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
The nominations for the 84th edition of the Oscars were presented yesterday by former nominee and Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence.
Martin Scorsese's 3D film Hugo, about the invention of cinema, stole the show with 11 nominations, leaving the favourite contender, the French silent film The Artist, trailing with 10.Other front-runners included Moneyball with six nominations and The Descendants with five.
Aside from these four films, the other nominees for the best picture prize are The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life, War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
George Clooney received his sixth Oscar nomination, this time for best actor, for his lead role in The Descendants. Competing against him are Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Brad Pitt (Moneyball), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and the surprise inclusion: the Mexican actor Demian Bichir (A Better Life).
The best actress category features one of the strongest fields in years, with double Oscar winner Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) leading the pack. She is nominated alongside Viola Davis (The Help), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn), Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) and Rooney Mara (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
Nominated for best supporting actor are Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Nick Holte (Warrior), Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). In what is the biggest surprise of the field, Melissa McCarthy was nominated for her supporting performance in the comedy Bridesmaids, which also bagged a best original screenplay nod for its lead star Kristen Wiig.
Recognised alongside McCarthy are Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Jessica Chastain (The Help), Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs).Perennial Academy favourite Martin Scorsese (Hugo) led the charge in the best director category, where he is joined by Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) and Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life).
This year's surprise shut outs include Steven Spielberg for his directing for War Horse and Tilda Swinton for her performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin. Leonardo DiCaprio (J Edgar) and Michael Fassbender (Shame), tapped as best actor candidates, were also left out. The Academy Awards will take place on February 26 at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre and will be hosted by Billy Crystal.
jgabrillo@thenational.ae
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
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
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
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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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
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
SCORES IN BRIEF
New Zealand 153 and 56 for 1 in 22.4 overs at close
Pakistan 227
(Babar 62, Asad 43, Boult 4-54, De Grandhomme 2-30, Patel 2-64)
