Rita Ora paints the town red in Elie Saab look at Disney premiere

Rita Ora attended the premiere of Disney’s 'Descendants: The Rise Of Red.' (Getty Images)
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Updated 18 July 2024
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Rita Ora paints the town red in Elie Saab look at Disney premiere

DUBAI: British singer and actress Rita Ora attended the premiere of Disney’s “Descendants: The Rise Of Red” in California wearing an on theme scarlet gown by Lebanese couturier Elie Saab.

Featuring draped material on the bodice and a thigh-high slit, the look hailed from Saab’s Autumn/Winter 2010 Haute Couture collection.

The musical fantasy film follows Red, daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, daughter of Cinderella, as they team up to save their home by traveling back in time to stop an event that would cause grave consequences.

Directed by Jennifer Phang, the cast includes Brandy, Rita Ora, Kylie Cantrall, Malia Baker, China Anne McClain, Jeremy Swift, Dara Reneé, Ruby Rose Turner, Morgan Dudley, Paolo Montalban, Melanie Paxson and Leonardo Nam.

Ora and Brandy, both pop singers, star together in the fourth installment of the “Descendants” movie franchise about the children of iconic Disney characters. They both play the mothers to the two main characters.

 “I Will Never Let You Down” hitmaker Ora plays the role of the Queen of Hearts and Brandy reprises her role from 1997’s “Cinderella” to play Cinderella.

“Oh my gosh, it's crazy — I did a movie with Brandy!” Ora told Entertainment Tonight ahead of the release of the film.

“I mean, I love her so much. I loved her music growing up. She was one of the vocalists that I would try and imitate every day in my bedroom. And watching her ‘Cinderella’ with Whitney Houston was so iconic for so many reasons. It made me believe in myself — like, 'Oh my goodness, I can do this too,’” Ora added, referring to superstar Whitney Houston who played Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother in the 1997 film.

Meanwhile, Elie Saab has been in the spotlight this weekend, with British actress Daisy Ridley showing off an understated look by the designer while presenting at the 2024 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The ESPY Awards, the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly, is an event honoring the top athletes and sport performances of the year.

Ridley wore a sleeveless cobalt-blue gown from Lebanese designer Elie Saab. The actress had her hair pulled back into a tight bun as she accessorized the look with blue gem earrings. She completed the ensemble with black heels.


Tunisian filmmaker wins $1 million AI Film Award

Updated 11 January 2026
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Tunisian filmmaker wins $1 million AI Film Award

DUBAI: The $1 million AI Film Award was given to Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi for his film “Lily” during the fourth edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai.

The prize was awarded by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

The prize was awarded by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. (Supplied)

The award, organized by the summit in partnership with Google Gemini, was presented as part of the gathering that focuses on the content creation economy. The event, that ran from Jan. 9–11, brought together more than 15,000 content creators and influencers, alongside over 580 speakers and 150 CEOs under the theme “Content for Good.”

The AI Film Award received 3,500 film submissions. Entries underwent technical evaluation with Google Gemini to ensure at least 70 percent of the production used generative AI tools.

Following jury selection and public voting, “Lily” emerged as the winner from a final group of five nominees, which included “Portrait No. 72,” “Cats Like Warmth,” “HEAL,” and “The Translator.”