DUBAI // Omar Sharif lit up the Dubai International Film Festival yesterday with his self-deprecating humour, leaving the media at a press conference in fits of laughter.
The most famous Arab actor in the world shifted effortlessly from Arabic to French and then English as he joked about his many roles.
"I wasn't always playing an Arab, I've played a German and I've played a Jewish American in Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand," he said.
During shooting for the film in 1967, the Six Day War broke out between Israeli and Arab armies.
"All the people insulted me and asked why they were paying me money that I would probably send back to President Nasser to help in the war against the Jewish people. Then the Jewish people insulted me because I was an Arab playing a Jewish American. I just couldn't win," he said.
"The thing is that I have never asked a girl what her nationality was before I kissed her."
The Egyptian-born actor, who stole the hearts of generations of women in 1960s movies such as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, said he did not mind not being a heartthrob any more.
"I decided that when you are my age you are old and you must not think of the past or the future," he said. "You must live in every minute of your life as if it is your last."
He said he was fascinated by his latest movie J'ai oublié de te dire (I forgot to tell you) in which he plays an elderly Alzheimer's patient.
"I am intrigued by the disease and how it is growing in the world," he said.
pkennedy@thenational.ae
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
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
The nine articles of the 50-Year Charter
1. Dubai silk road
2. A geo-economic map for Dubai
3. First virtual commercial city
4. A central education file for every citizen
5. A doctor to every citizen
6. Free economic and creative zones in universities
7. Self-sufficiency in Dubai homes
8. Co-operative companies in various sectors
9: Annual growth in philanthropy
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
