UAE

Top award for Turkish director’s drama at Abu Dhabi Film Festival

The Turkish director Yesim Ustaglu’s drama Araf / Somewhere In Between walked away with the main prize at the Black Pearl Awards ceremony of the sixth Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Alex Ritman

October 20, 2012

The Turkish director Yesim Ustaglu’s drama Araf / Somewhere In Between walked away with the main prize at the Black Pearl Awards ceremony of the sixth Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which closed last night at the Emirates Palace.

The film took the Black Pearl award in the Narrative Competition and producer Serkan Cakarer was in town to collect the award. “It’s an example of great teamwork, I feel like a king tonight,” he said.

A World Not Ours, the Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel’s colourful account of his experiences in the South Lebanon refugee camp where he grew up, cleaned up in the documentary section. The film, which received funding from the festival’s own SANAD fund, picked up Best Documentary along with awards from FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics, and NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema.

“It’s been an awesome night and I dedicate everything to my late father, who I’m sure is watching me tonight,” Fleifel told the audience. “I thank Abu Dhabi for helping me make this film.”

Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani won the Best Actress award in the New Horizons section for her emotional performance in Atiq Rahimi's drama, The Patience Stone. "We all miss Peter Scarlet," she said when collecting the award, referring to the festival's outgoing director who left in August. "But it's great that the festival is still going ahead despite tensions."

Also in the New Horizons section, which celebrates new filmmakers, Iranian drama A Respectable Family picked up the main Black Pearl Award, Søren Malling won Best Actor for A Hijacking and When I Saw You, Annemarie Jacir's drama that is Palestine's entry to the next Academy Awards, took home Best Film from the Arab World. "I thank ADFF and SANAD, the film wouldn't exist without you," Jacir said.

Other winners on the night included Saving Face, the Pakistani documentary that picked up an Oscar earlier in the year, which won the Audience Choice Award and Nouri Bouzid, who picked up Best Director from the Arab World for her Tunisian drama Hidden Beauties. "I am in heart and mind with Tunisian women," she said.

The awards ceremony came on the penultimate evening of the 10-day festival, which featured 165 films from 48 countries.

aritman@thenational.ae

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.”