ABU DHABI // An audience of children was treated yesterday to the Middle East premiere of the family comedy Shorts, the first film to be co-produced by Imagenation, Abu Dhabi's multimillion-dirham film fund.
The film, made in partnership with Warner Brothers, tells the story of a group of children who discover a rock with the power to grant wishes. As the children's wishes become increasingly elaborate, their quiet American suburb is beset by an army of crocodiles, huge insects and a giant robot.
The story is broken into chapters and narrated by the main character Toe Thomson, played by the American actor Jimmy Bennett, who continually gets the order of events wrong. The film was introduced by the MEIFF director, Peter Scarlet, who compared the story to the classic Arabian folk tale One Thousand and One Nights.
"It starts, stops and goes back on itself just like that story did years ago," he said. "When I saw it in Hollywood a few months ago, it reminded me [of that story] in many ways."
The film was brought to life by the US director Robert Rodriguez, who is known for the Spy Kids series, as well as more mature fare, such as Desperado and Sin City. The director cast all five of his children in the film.
"My favourite part was when the crocodile was about to eat the baby and then it freezes," said Grace Turner, 10, an audience member who lives in Abu Dhabi but is from Austin, Texas, where much of the film was shot.
Imagenation Abu Dhabi, which is owned by Abu Dhabi Media Company, which also owns The National, has a number of films in production or slated for release, including the family comedy Furry Vengeance, political thriller Fair Game, the horror remake The Crazies and the Second World War epic The Way Back. In January it was involved with the release of the Imax film Journey to Mecca.
"This is the first real Imagenation co-production and the first time we will see our logo on the big screen in Abu Dhabi," said Stefan Brunner, the chief operating officer of Imagenation. "We hope all the kids and their parents enjoy it as much as we did."
Earlier on Saturday, 80 of Abu Dhabi's children were invited to an event at MEIFF's Festival Tent, followed by the chance to walk the red carpet before the screening.
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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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UAE v Zimbabwe A
Results
Match 1 – UAE won by 4 wickets
Match 2 – UAE won by 5 wickets
Match 3 – UAE won by 25 runs
Match 4 – UAE won by 77 runs
Fixture
Match 5, Saturday, 9.30am start, ICC Academy, Dubai
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