ROME: An Italian-Egyptian singer has won a long-running music contest that aims to exalt Italian song.
Alessandro Mahmoud, who performs with the stage name Mahmood, triumphed at the Sanremo music festival late Saturday with his rendition of “Soldi” (“Money“).
The 26-year-old’s winning song has a rhythmic beat often heard in North African music.
TV viewers, an expert panel and journalists vote for the winner of the five-day annual festival. The public input counts for 50 percent of contestants’ scores.
Italy’s anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, tweeted that he’d have chosen Ultimo, the songfest’s presumed favorite.
The Milan-born Mahmoud has an Italian mother and an Egyptian father. He said early Sunday: “I’m an Italian guy, 100 percent.”
He will represent Italy at this year’s Eurovision song contest.
Italian-Egyptian singer wins contest exalting Italian song
Italian-Egyptian singer wins contest exalting Italian song
The Weeknd donates $2 million for humanitarian aid in Gaza
DUBAI: Canadian singer The Weeknd has pledged to donate another $2 million to help feed families in Gaza, the United Nations’s World Food Programme reported.
The donation comes from the star’s XO Humanitarian Fund, which helps combat global hunger.
“This support will provide over 1,500 metric tons of fortified wheat flour, which can make over 18 million loaves of bread that can help feed more than 157,000 Palestinians for one month,” said WFP.
In December, the multi-platinum global recording artist, whose given name is Abel Tesfaye, donated $2.5 million to WFP from the fund, which he established in partnership with World Food Program USA. That equated to 4 million emergency meals, funding 820 tons of food parcels that could feed more than 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks.
Tesfaye, who was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador in October 2021, is an active supporter of WFP’s global hunger-relief mission. He, his partners and his fans have raised $6.5 million to date for the XO fund.
In total he has directed $4.5 million toward operations in Gaza and has sent $2 million to support WFP’s emergency food assistance for women and children in Ethiopia.
Jordan’s Princess Rajwa turns heads with maternity fashion statement
DUBAI: Princess Rajwa Al-Hussein of Jordan was spotted shopping in Amman on Wednesday, her growing baby bump proudly on show.
The princess, who is from Saudi Arabia, wore a blue denim maternity jumpsuit from the Tencel Denim Maternity range by British label Seraphine.
She completed her look with white sneakers and accessorized with a Bottega Veneta Mini Cabat Mini leather tote bag.
Princess Rajwa, the wife of Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II, celebrated her birthday last week. The crown prince took to social media to send her birthday greetings as an official portrait of the princess was unveiled.
“May God continue to bless and nurture the bond between us. Happy Birthday Rajwa,” he wrote on Instagram, sharing a new photo of the couple.
The new official portrait of Princess Rajwa shows the princess wearing a blue outfit from French label Rabanne against a matching blue background.
Earlier this month it was announced that the royal couple, who married in June last year, were expecting their first baby this summer.
Renowned London restaurant and Emirati fashion label launch t-shirt collection
DUBAI: Acclaimed Persian restaurant Berenjak Dubai, hailing from London, has joined forces with Shabab Intl. to launch a range of stylish t-shirts.
The limited-edition garments are now on sale at the restaurant’s branch in Dubai and will soon be available in London.
In sleek black, the t-shirts feature a Berenjak-inspired print on the back. The logos of both the restaurant and Shabab Intl. are depicted on the front.
Images for the launch campaign were shot by Dubai creative Cheb Moha, who leads the fashion label.
“We’re thrilled to be at Berenjak,” he told Arab News. “Personally, I am a huge fan and make it a point to dine there at least once especially when I’m in London.”
Moha’s deep appreciation for Berenjak stems from an enduring passion for Persian cuisine and cultural heritage, he said.
“Having Shabab there is particularly special for us, and I am confident that it will open doors for more collaborations. With our Shabab community present, it is exciting for them to witness this crossover between our origins and the spaces we inhabit at the restaurant. We are thrilled to stand alongside Berenjak and to have Shabab represented there.”
Moha added his t-shirt designs aimed for simplicity and clarity.
“I wanted to incorporate our identity with Berenjak’s identity and the identity of (the) city we are in, which is Dubai,” he said.
“If you notice, the graphic on the back of the t-shirt is sort of sun shaped. That is part of the Shabab spirit, the sunrise. And if you look in the windows, Berenjak also has a sun motif in the glass. I wanted to incorporate that and feel like there is a nice synergy between both brands.”
Moha also feels there is a crossover between fashion and food. “I feel like there’s always been a pipeline between both. They do complement each other in some way,” he said.
Berenjak, founded by chef Kian Samyani and award-winning London restaurant group JKS Restaurants, is a renowned Persian restaurant that has made its mark by bringing a contemporary twist to classic dishes.
Action! Saudi Film Festival returns for 10th edition
- Everything you need to know about Ithra’s celebration of cinema
DHAHRAN: The 10th Saudi Film Festival will begin May 2 at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran.
This year’s eight-day event — organized by the Cinema Society in partnership with Ithra and with support from the Ministry of Culture — will feature 76 film screenings and 53 titles vying for 36 awards. The red carpet will be rolled out on both opening and closing nights, with filmmakers, actors and film buffs in attendance. There will be workshops and book signings and, of course, the opportunity for filmmakers from the Kingdom and the wider region to come together.
The festival will open with “Underground,” a feature-length documentary by Saudi director Abdulrahman Sandokji about the Kingdom’s music industry.
Festival director Ahmed Al-Mulla said at a press conference: “This event is fast developing into a must-attend festival across the GCC film community. This year’s 10th edition is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet.”
“We have come a long way over the past decade and are pleased to see Saudi Film Festival’s importance and popularity across the region’s film community growing each passing year,” added SFF vice president, Mansour Al-Badran. “(It) has become a portal for cultural exchange and exploration, providing an avenue for cultural openness for the Kingdom and building bridges beyond borders for new programs and experiences.”
The festival’s colorful history — back to its debut in 2008 — will be on display at the Cinema Society’s “Saudi Encyclopedia of Cinema,” which includes 20 books covering all aspects of film.
This year’s edition has two main themes: Indian cinema and sci-fi films. The Spotlight on Indian Cinema program will explore India’s rich film industry beyond Bollywood and showcase Indian indie movies, which rarely get the chance to run in the Gulf region. Practical workshops and cultural seminars will be included for both the main themes, as well as programming designed especially for children.
The Plaza at Ithra will bring the future to the present by providing a Virtual Production Experience (NeoCyb) experience. Combining live-action film with digital environments or elements in real-time, virtual production uses advanced technologies such as real-time rendering engines and motion-capture to create immersive virtual environments that performers can interact with, enabling filmmakers to visualize and capture scenes with complex visual effects more efficiently and cost-effectively, by reducing the need for extensive post-production work.
And speaking of production, the festival also includes a production market where people can meet up to work towards a common goal: making more movies. Filmmakers, producers, funders — and those seeking funding — will be present. The market is designed, the organizers say “to enhance the film industry in Saudi Arabia by encouraging collaboration between artists, producers, and investors in the cinema industry.”
A total of 53 features, shorts and documentaries, nominated by the festival’s technical committee, will compete for 36 prizes at this year’s SFF. They will be displayed at the festival in three categories: the Film Competition, the Unexecuted Screenplay Competition, and the Production Market Projects Competition.
There will also be a new category of prizes up for grabs: The Golden Palm, which will be presented to the best Saudi documentary about the environment as well as a second-place award for the best animated short film on the topic.
On the sidelines of all the high-profile screenings, the festival also includes a myriad of activities for film professionals, including 10 training workshops, two of which will focus on production market participants and short- and long-scenario development. There will also be a symposium and a total of 13 masterclasses covering a wide range of topics. More details are available on Ithra’s website.
SFF will also continue to celebrate the achievements of film pioneers in the Kingdom and the Gulf region. This year, the festival will honor Saudi actor Abdulmohsen Al-Nemer, who hails from nearby Al-Ahsa.
Al-Nemer has starred in numerous films over his decades-long career, including “The Sun” (1990), “Shadows of Silence” (2006), “Thobe: The Wedding” (2016) and “Long Road” (2022).
He also starred in last year’s award-winning “Hajjan,” an Ithra Film Production that premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and recently took home three awards at the Gulf Film Festival including Best Feature, Best Actor and Best Cinematography.
The festival will also honor Syrian director, Mohammad Malas, whose work has often been banned in his homeland but is recognized as one of his country’s leading auteurs. His documentary about Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, shot in the Eighties, “Al-Manam” was awarded first prize at the first International Documentary Festival in France in 1987.
Sci-fi franchise ‘Planet of the Apes’ gets new instalment
- Wes Ball directs as dystopic series jumps centuries ahead
DUBAI: Wes Ball, known for directing dystopic flicks including “Maze Runner” and “Ruin,” wasn’t fully on board when he was first approached to helm “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”, the latest instalment in the sci-fi franchise that has spawned 10 films.
“I was skeptical,” Ball told Arab News. “I’m a big fan of this franchise. I grew up on the original (1968) one. I love the previous three movies (the reboot series that began in 2011). What Andy Serkis did and what Matt Reeves did in those movies, they're distinct; they're incredible movies. And I was questioning whether there was a need for a follow up.
“I wasn't really into the idea until we figured out this concept that allowed us to be brave enough to go our own direction and not feel the need to be so tied to the previous movies,” he continued. “Of course, there's a lot of love and respect (for) the previous movies, but we wanted to do something new and fresh and original — have a reason to exist, and not just to do another one for the sake of it. So we tried really hard to come up with a story and a group of characters that felt new and different and would be a worthy addition to what's now been 10 movies over 35 years.”
“Kingdom” is intended as a sequel to 2017’s “War of the Planet of the Apes” — the third film in the rebooted series — but is set nearly 300 years after its events.
Over those three centuries, ape civilizations have grown and they have become the dominant species on Earth. Humans, meanwhile, have faded and become an “echo” of their ancestors, regressing into a more feral, primitive form.
Against this backdrop, “Kingdom” tells the coming-of-age story of a young ape called Noa (Owen Teague) as he goes up against the tyrannical ape leader Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), aided by a young woman named Mae (Freya Allan).
Before filming commenced, the cast attended six weeks of ape school, spearheaded by movement coach Alain Gauthier. Teague also spent some time observing chimpanzees.
“I learned how much like an ape I am. I might be more ape than human,” Teague said. “One of the most fascinating things to me was how political they are, and how complicated their social hierarchy is; it's not entirely vertical, there's this kind of intermingling. Two apes will form a coalition and try to take down another, and the one who's in power will go and campaign. There's all these strategies they use to get where they want to be socially. And I had no idea that they could lie or deceive or backstab the way they do. It makes a lot of sense that we come from them.”
“Witcher” star Allan — who plays the only significant human role in the film — says her time on the sets of the fantasy Netflix show helped with some of the stunts for this movie.
“I have gained confidence from doing so much on ‘Witcher.’ And I've done dance in the past. I enjoy doing that physical stuff. I find it really exhilarating to do a stunt well. But there was stuff I did in this film that I haven't done in other things. There was some water stuff that was really fun to do. And just a lot of falling over. I was always bruised,” she said.
A film set centuries after the fall of human civilization is familiar territory for Ball, who directed all the “Maze Runner” films.
“I just kind of fall into these worlds for whatever reason,” he said. “But I didn’t come up with the world for ‘Maze Runner,’ it was in the books. I just had to implement and execute it. But that’s a world you don't want to go into: It's dirty. It's dangerous. Whereas this ‘Apes’ world… it's beautiful. It's nature reclaiming the Earth and it's becoming a new Eden in a way. I hope people don't use the word dystopian for this movie. I hope they use words like, ‘a lost world.’
“So much time has passed that all signs of humanity have almost been wiped away. I love the idea that it becomes a lovely world that you would like to explore,” he continued. “And the cool thing about it is, underneath all that beauty and tranquility, there's this haunting idea of the mistakes that mankind made.”
