Being a child of the chief censor in Abu Dhabi came with significant benefits for Faisal Al Nowais.
Every month, a large box filled with films would arrive at his house for his father's final approval.
"I remember watching a lot of movies that you wouldn't normally see [back then]," says the son of Adulla Al Nowais, a former under-secretary for the Ministry of Information and Culture and the head of television for the emirate.
Hardly surprising, then, that this is how the Faisal, a psychiatrist who has just set up a feature film company with his banker brother Ahmed and a colleague, Sameer Al Obaidli, developed his love of movies.
Their company, Trucial States, hopes to get a slice of the global film industry, which was worth US$36.8 billion (Dh135.17bn) last year and projected to grow to $45.7bn in 2015, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"I put a movie on and I saw 'Image Nation Abu Dhabi' and thought, 'Are we making movies now? When did this happen?'" says Dr Al Nowais, 36, an Emirati from Abu Dhabi who spent the early part of his working life in Canada as a resident psychiatrist at McGill University.
"I was very excited and intrigued, but I was like, 'OK, I'm not going to get involved in this,' and I said [that] to my brother, Ahmed, and he was like, 'No, we should,'" he says.
So they did, teaming up three months ago with Dr Al Obaidli, 33, another psychiatrist, to launch the company, based at Abu Dhabi's media centre at twofour54.
"I am very involved in Trucial States. We all are," says Mr Al Nowais. "Unfortunately this is not a job that pays [yet] so we have to keep our day jobs. But a lot of the work is done in the afternoons anyway. [Besides] I love my job [as a psychiatrist] because I get to help people."
The film company, which aims to make small-budget films for US and international audiences, is trying to source funding for two horror movies using a pre-shot trailer.
"The idea is to shoot trailers and you use the trailers for funding and also to get buy-ins from distributors et cetera. That's the premise," says Iain Cooper, a director, or "creative statesman" of Trucial States, as he prefers to be known.
"The first project already has [the] finished trailer shot. There is a shooting script ready to go. Then we have another project where there is a finished trailer and a shooting script ready to go," he adds.
Last year, Dubai's economy received a Dh150 million boost thanks to television shows and commercials being filmed in the emirate.
But the movie industry in the UAE is still at the fledgling stage.
"I think it is important to note that there isn't a film industry here as such," says Brian Shepherd, the managing director of Spitfire, a post-production company set up 10 months ago, which has formed a strategic alliance with Trucial States.
"I think that it is more confined to corporate image films and TV commercials. Hopefully, we can develop that in time and I think that is what Trucial States will look to do," he adds.
Several movies were filmed in the Emirates last year, including supernatural horror film Djinn, the coming-of-age tale Sea Shadow, plus, of course, scenes from Mission: Impossible 4.
And it was Gheorghe Seran's involvement with that Hollywood blockbuster that inspired him to set up his film-extras company, Fame Boulevard.
Mr Seran, 36, a former captain in the Romanian police, moved to Dubai in 2006 and set up a company selling luxury properties.
Finding more time on his hands in the aftermath of the crisis, he started to focus more on his acting hobby, and applied to be an extra in Mission: Impossible.
"We filmed three days on the Palm at Zabeel Saray with Tom Cruise. We were all dressed up like James Bond. It was great," he says.
While on set, Mr Seran chatted with the Hollywood director Brad Bird, who told him that they originally wanted to only cast men over 40 for a party scene but in the end had to settle for whoever they could get.
"The director said [Dubai] was like a playground for him with all the skyline and the light. They really liked it. The only thing he complained about was the talent agencies," says Mr Seran.
In the US it is possible to find almost anyone to be an extra, "including a 75-year-old man with a beard down to the ground", Mr Seran says.
"Here [you cannot] even find a normal guy like in between 20 and 30 who is local," he says.
So Mr Seran decided to set up Fame Boulevard to help production companies find extras. He registered the company on November 11, 2011 - a date he chose because he felt 11/11/11 was auspicious - and has slowly been compiling an internet database of part-time actors. He has about 250 people at the moment and intends to approach film production companies once he has about 1,000 signed up.
And they may be in demand sooner rather than later, according to Mr Shepherd, who has 26 years experience in the film industry here and in London, where he worked for The Mill, which did the computer graphics for Ridley Scott's 2000 blockbuster Gladiator.
"After Mission: Impossible 4 I think you will see an upsurge in film production here because of the city itself, which offers a lot in terms of location," he says.
"Natural growth over time suggests that Hollywood has filmed here, so it is a matter of time before a film production company here makes a film that is comparative to what they do," he adds.
But small companies are not the only organisations working towards the growth of the film industry in the UAE.
The New York Film Academy set up a branch campus in Abu Dhabi in 2008 to encourage the local industry.
Afnan Al Qasemi, 19, from Sharjah, won a scriptwriting competition run by the academy for her script Shaye Karak or "Karak Tea", about crime.
So does this mean the student may consider becoming a scriptwriter full-time?
"If I have what it takes to be a scriptwriter full-time, why not? I love the art of film making and I love writing ... it will be an amazing thing to be part of both," she says.
"Maybe this will be the door to a great future, inshalla," adds Ms Al Qasemi.
But filmmaking was not an option in Abu Dhabi when Mr Al Nowais was choosing his future career.
"I used to be an actor in a children's television series. There was never a moment where I thought, 'This is interesting, I'm going to do something behind the scenes,'" he says.
"It just never felt like it was really a career option for me."
gduncan@thenational.ae
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Racecard
5.25pm: Etihad Museum – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,200m
6pm: Al Shindaga Museum – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (Dirt) 1,200m
6.35pm: Poet Al Oqaili – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,400m
7.10pm: Majlis Ghurfat Al Sheif – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,600m
7.45pm: Hatta – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,400m
8.20pm: Al Fahidi – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 2,200m
8.55pm: Zabeel Trophy – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (T) 1,600m
9.30pm: Coins Museum – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
10.05pm: Al Quoz Creative – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
About Seez
Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
KINGDOM%20OF%20THE%20PLANET%20OF%20THE%20APES
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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
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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
