ABU DHABI // Filmmaker Beno Saradzic wants to change our perspective – by playing with time.
His new stop-frame film, Beyond: Memoirs in a Time Lapse, seeks to do that for not only the way we see the UAE, but wider mankind, from atop cranes and alongside skyscrapers.
“I always look for a point of view that is not the point of view of a normal human being,” Mr Saradzic said, after releasing the video earlier this week. “I play with this perspective.”
The film, lasting more than seven minutes, arranges 11,250 still frames Mr Saradzic shot in 2011 and 2012 for various assignments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He chose the best frames from more than 225,000 that he captured in those two years, and then spent six months editing them.
While the finished film comprises images from the two cities, linked in three “movements”, the message goes wider, said Mr Saradzic, 45, a Slovenian who is executive producer and art director at Timesand Studios in Abu Dhabi.
“This is a collective success not just about the UAE, but of mankind in general,” he said.
In fact, he calls it “an ode to mankind”, the physical manifestation of vision, dreams and determination.
The images take viewers from the Abu Dhabi Mangroves to Downtown Dubai, above the cities’ bustling highways and out to Abu Dhabi airport.
He said every shoot is an adventure, even though they are time-consuming. The shots of sunlight and shadows moving over the mangroves amount to four seconds in the video, but took an entire day to photograph.
He found DP World at Jebel Ali port particularly fascinating. “When you actually enter into this place, you’ve got these giant machines. It looks like you’re in an alien world,” he said.
He felt especially proud of the shots of fog rolling into Dubai. While in real time the mist seems to hang motionless, with time lapse, he could see it rolling and curling around the buildings, like water around a rock in a stream.
“You can never really tell if the fog is happening the way you want it to happen,” he said.
He collaborated on Beyond with the television and film composer Vladimir Persan, who had worked with Mr Saradzic on his previous time-lapse film, Abu Dhabi 2011.
“I was quite impressed. I really liked it because I never saw time lapse of that dimension, to be honest,” said Mr Persan, an Azerbaijani based in the UAE.
“You just look at this and it sinks in place. The music is already there,” he said. “The meaning speaks for itself.”
Mr Persan said he hoped to match the drama and scale that Mr Saradzic wanted for the film, which Mr Persan described as being “like an organism”.
“It’s like life. You see the vessels and the blood passing by,” he said.
The film also reflects the country’s transformation since Mr Saradzic arrived in the country as an architectural visualiser in 1991.
“That’s why all of this impresses me a lot more than a newcomer,” he said. “It has been unravelling in front of my eyes.”
On Thursday, his film had been viewed more than 45,000 times. This includes a number of highly influential people, such as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, both of whom posted Twitter messages linking to Mr Saradzic’s video.
lcarroll@thenational.ae
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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
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"
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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Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Four reasons global stock markets are falling right now
There are many factors worrying investors right now and triggering a rush out of stock markets. Here are four of the biggest:
1. Rising US interest rates
The US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates three times this year in a bid to prevent its buoyant economy from overheating. They now stand at between 2 and 2.25 per cent and markets are pencilling in three more rises next year.
Kim Catechis, manager of the Legg Mason Martin Currie Global Emerging Markets Fund, says US inflation is rising and the Fed will continue to raise rates in 2019. “With inflationary pressures growing, an increasing number of corporates are guiding profitability expectations downwards for 2018 and 2019, citing the negative impact of rising costs.”
At the same time as rates are rising, central bankers in the US and Europe have been ending quantitative easing, bringing the era of cheap money to an end.
2. Stronger dollar
High US rates have driven up the value of the dollar and bond yields, and this is putting pressure on emerging market countries that took advantage of low interest rates to run up trillions in dollar-denominated debt. They have also suffered capital outflows as international investors have switched to the US, driving markets lower. Omar Negyal, portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust, says this looks like a buying opportunity. “Despite short-term volatility we remain positive about long-term prospects and profitability for emerging markets.”
3. Global trade war
Ritu Vohora, investment director at fund manager M&G, says markets fear that US President Donald Trump’s spat with China will escalate into a full-blown global trade war, with both sides suffering. “The US economy is robust enough to absorb higher input costs now, but this may not be the case as tariffs escalate. However, with a host of factors hitting investor sentiment, this is becoming a stock picker’s market.”
4. Eurozone uncertainty
Europe faces two challenges right now in the shape of Brexit and the new populist government in eurozone member Italy.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, which has offices in Dubai, says the stand-off between between Rome and Brussels threatens to become much more serious. "As with Brexit, neither side appears willing to step back from the edge, threatening more trouble down the line.”
The European economy may also be slowing, Mr Beauchamp warns. “A four-year low in eurozone manufacturing confidence highlights the fact that producers see a bumpy road ahead, with US-EU trade talks remaining a major question-mark for exporters.”
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A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
