Saudi film ‘Me & Aydarous’ goes global

Saudi film ‘Me & Aydarous’ goes global
The biggest challenge, however, was casting, with the team auditioning many actresses before deciding on Ida Alkusay, who Balghonaim described as “extremely skilled and fearless.” (Supplied)
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Updated 21 March 2023

Saudi film ‘Me & Aydarous’ goes global

Saudi film ‘Me & Aydarous’ goes global
  • Sara Balghonaim’s short film starts international festival tour next month

DUBAI: Saudi film “Me & Aydarous” is set to kickstart its international festival tour at the Aspen Film Festival’s Shortsfest next month.

Written and directed by Sara Balghonaim, the film is set in the early 2000s in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. It tells the story of a young woman who sneaks off for a date only to butt heads with her chaperoning chauffeur.

Balghonaim, a Saudi filmmaker who is based between Riyadh and New York, is currently in her thesis year at New York University’s graduate Film & Television MFA program in directing and writing.

Her writing workshops inspired the concept for the movie with Balghonaim penning the script in the second year of the program.

Students from different backgrounds shared their experiences of growing up during the early 2000s in different cultures during a workshop.

“Looking at my own past, I found that most of my memories from this time period featured my chauffeur in Riyadh,” Balghonaim told Arab News. “This is what inspired me to write this story: Me and every girl who grew up during this period have similar memories of their live-in chauffeurs knowing everything about their personal lives.”

Although the events of the film are not based on her personal life, “the dynamic between the protagonist and her driver, is my experience and the experience of most Saudi women,” she said.

Live-in chauffeurs were a common feature in Riyadh households, who knew everything about the young women they drove around from their taste in music to their relationship with their parents, Balghonaim said.




Sara Balghonaim, writer and director of Saudi film “Me & Aydarous.” (Supplied)

“And, if you are a girl in Saudi Arabia in the early 2000s, he (the chauffeur) knows a whole lot about your romantic life . . . or lack thereof.”

As she grew up, she saw young couples become more creative in navigating the strict rules in order to date with many meeting in cars more frequently.

“For women, that meant their chauffeurs were chaperoning these dates,” she said.

The making of the film was almost as challenging as dating in the Kingdom — from funding to casting. Production began two years ago when there was no year-round state funding for Saudi short films, Balghonaim said.

“So, despite the lack of funding from organizations, we managed to pool together money for this project, along with the support of our family and friends who loaned us their cars, and houses, and contributed their time to helping us where they could.”

The filming itself was a challenge too since the entire film takes place inside a cramped van.

“A challenge my director of photography Khalid Alsudairy and I faced was figuring out how to fit the camera and cast in this closed space whilst creating a dynamic visual language,” she said.

The biggest challenge, however, was casting, with the team auditioning many actresses before deciding on Ida Alkusay, who Balghonaim described as “extremely skilled and fearless.”

“Many of them were afraid of participating in a story that is still considered taboo,” said Balghonaim, who had to personally reassure their fathers that there would be no physical intimacy in any of the scenes between the protagonist and her boyfriend.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has come a long way both in terms of investment in the local film industry as well as changes in culture and society.




“Me & Aydarous,” which won the Wasserman Award last year, is produced by Raed Alsemari and Salman Almusaad. (Supplied)

“The film speaks to a time that is different to where we are now — the GenZ in Saudi are growing up in a time with massive cultural changes, with more freedom to exercise normal day-to-day life,” she said.

With this film, Balghonaim wants to share the experiences of many Saudi women of her generation with a global audience. “I want people to question, to reminisce, and to laugh at the creative lengths we go to when it comes to getting what we want; to exercising our basic need for intimacy and connection,” she said.

“Me & Aydarous” marks Balghonaim’s debut as a director. She has worked with Haifa Al-Mansour as an assistant director on “The Perfect Candidate,” starred in “Dunya’s Day,” winner of the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and recently produced “Sweet Refuge,” which won the Directors Guild of America Student Award.

Balghonaim is currently working on a feature-length film.

“The stories I’m writing center on women breaking the status quo, and touch on societal behavior and limitations,” she said.

“Me & Aydarous,” which won the Wasserman Award last year, is produced by Raed Alsemari and Salman Almusaad, and associate produced by Khalid Alsudairy, starring Ida Alkusay and Ballah Mohammad Alfadhel.

CineWaves Films owns the film distribution rights in the Arab world and Africa.


Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price

Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price
Updated 06 June 2023

Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price

Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price
  • Experts predict Apple’s Vision Pro could be game changer, others ask is it worth price tag?

LONDON: Apple’s latest gadgets have sparked excitement among Arabs, although some are raising eyebrows at the hefty price tags.

Along with an upgraded iOS system, new MacBooks range and its most-powerful chips yet, Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination.

Apple chief executive officer, Tim Cook, proudly introduced the sleek Vision Pro goggles at the annual developers’ conference in Cupertino, California, a campus co-designed by the late Steve Jobs.

“This marks the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology,” Cook said.

The Vision Pro is Apple’s maiden voyage into the mixed reality market, boasting a high-resolution display, eye-tracking technology, and a formidable processor.

For some Arabs, the Vision Pro could revolutionize work, learning, and play with potential applications in remote collaboration, education, and gaming.

Emkwan, a UAE-based tech content creator at the event, said: “I’m actually shocked at all this. There’s so much to take in about Apple Vision Pro. It’s both scary and beautiful. Has Apple killed the iPhone with the Apple Vision Pro?”

However, with a $3,500 price tag, not everyone is ready to jump on the Vision Pro bandwagon.

One user said: “Not yet. You won’t kill the iPhone with VR until you make it affordable enough to put into the average and above average consumer hands and right now, it’s priced outside of their reach.”

Saudi-based tech influencer Majed Al-Dakhiel recognized the game-changing potential of the goggles, but questioned Apple’s target audience.

“The goggles are truly transformative and open the door of competition between developers. But will they be an entertainment or retail product?” he said on Twitter.

The Cupertino company is certainly making waves with its new technological offerings and the headset could become another feather in Apple’s cap for releasing industry-altering technology, even if it were not the first to do so.

While analysts are not expecting the Vision Pro to be a big hit right away, the buzz and concerns surrounding the headset suggest it has the potential to become a major contender in the MR market. Only time will tell how Arab consumers will embrace the device.


About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function

About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function
Updated 06 June 2023

About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function

About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function
  • Texting tweak to stop changing some of the most common expletives

LONDON: One of the most notable happenings at Apple’s event for developers on Monday is likely the iPhone maker’s tweak that will keep its autocorrect feature from annoyingly correcting one of the most common expletives to “ducking.”
“In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief.
The iPhone keyboard autocorrect feature has always had its quirks, sometimes taking a misspelled word while texting and substituting what it deems a logical option that ends up changing the meaning of a particular phrase or sentence.
Such occurrences generally produce follow-up texts along the lines of “damn autocorrect!” But the “ducking” substitution is a long-standing source of mirth or frustration, depending on how many times one has had to rewrite their own texts or scream at one’s own device (the iPhone cannot correct one’s verbal epithets).
Apart from the texting tweak, the company had a lot on its agenda — an expensive new mixed-reality headset, details on a revamping of its desktop and a laptop revamp.
Apple shares hit an all-time record Monday, putting the company’s market valuation just shy of $3 trillion, which would also be a record. Its gains of 280 percent over the past five years clearly demonstrates the power of the iPhone’s market share.
Of course, iPhone users have always had the option to turn off the autocorrect feature on their phones, which would allow its foul-mouthed users to be as profane as they want.


Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands

Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands
Updated 06 June 2023

Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands

Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands
  • Prince Harry and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers, over allegations of widespread wrongdoing between 1991 and 2011

LONDON: Prince Harry said the press had blood on its hands as he gave evidence against a tabloid publisher whose titles he accuses of phone-hacking and other unlawful activities, becoming the first senior royal in a witness box in more than a century.

Harry, the fifth-in-line to the throne, briefly smiled as he passed the phalanx of waiting photographers and camera crews when he arrived at the modern Rolls Building in central London, ahead of the very rare court appearance by a royal.

He and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, over allegations of widespread wrongdoing between 1991 and 2011.

The younger son of King Charles III entered the witness box to face hours of cross-examination from Andrew Green, MGN’s lawyer, over 33 newspaper articles Harry said were based on information which had been unlawfully gathered.

Green began by personally apologizing to Harry on his client’s behalf over one instance in which it admitted unlawful information gathering.

“It should never have happened and it will not happen again,” he said, adding if the court agreed MGN had committed wrongdoing on other occasions “you will be entitled to, and you will receive a more extensive apology.”

In questioning, Harry was asked about a passage in his written witness statement in which he referred to “appalling” behavior by the British press. “How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?” he wrote.

Asked by Green if he was suggesting MGN journalists who wrote the articles at the center of his lawsuit had blood on their hands, Harry replied: “Some of the editors and journalists that are responsible for causing a lot of pain, upset and in some cases — perhaps inadvertently — death.”

The prince is the first senior British royal to give evidence for 130 years. He was speaking from the same witness box in Court 15 where singer Ed Sheeran and French actress Eva Green have both recently appeared in separate and unrelated cases.

The MGN trial began last month, with lawyers for Harry and the other claimants seeking to prove that unlawful information gathering was carried out with the knowledge and approval of senior editors and executives.

Harry is one of four test cases, and his specific allegations form the focus of the first three days of this week.

However, he did not appear on Monday, having only left the United States, where he now lives with his American wife Meghan, the previous evening as it was his daughter Lilibet’s birthday on Sunday. The judge, Timothy Fancourt, said he was surprised at his absence.

Looking serious and speaking firmly but quietly, Harry said thousands if not millions of stories had been written about him, as Green pressed him on whether he had specifically read the MGN articles in question.

Harry agreed that he and his lawyers had chosen the most intrusive articles and those which had caused the most distress for his complaint.

Asked if he remembered reading the first story he had complained about, an article about his mother visiting him for his 12th birthday, Harry said: “I was a child, I was at school, these articles were incredibly invasive. Every time one of these articles were written it had an effect.”

On Monday, Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said his late mother Princess Diana, had also been a victim of hacking, and the prince referred to this in his witness statement, laying the blame at the Daily Mirror’s former editor Piers Morgan.

He said the thought of Piers Morgan and his “band of journalists earwigging” into my mother’s messages “makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr. Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behavior.”

Morgan, now a high-profile broadcaster who works for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has always denied any involvement in, or knowledge of phone-hacking or other illegal activity.

MGN, now owned by Reach, has previously admitted its titles were involved in phone-hacking, settling more than 600 claims, but Green has said there was no evidence that Harry had ever been a victim.

The publisher also argues that some of the personal information involved had come from senior royal aides, including from one of his father’s former top officials.


US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations

US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations
Updated 06 June 2023

US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations

US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations
  • Microsoft allegedly collected personal data from children under age 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system from 2015 to 2020 without their parents’ permission and retained this information

WASHINGTON: Microsoft will pay $20 million to settle government charges that it collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent, officials said Monday.
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that from 2015 to 2020 Microsoft collected personal data from children under age 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system without their parents’ permission and retained this information.
To open an account, users had to provide their first and last names, an email address, and date of birth.
The FTC said Microsoft violated a law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.
“Our proposed order makes it easier for parents to protect their children’s privacy on Xbox, and limits what information Microsoft can collect and retain about kids,” said Samuel Levine, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“This action should also make it abundantly clear that kids’ avatars, biometric data, and health information are not exempt from COPPA,” Levine added.
The decision still needs the approval of a federal court before it can be implemented.
The FTC said Microsoft will be required to take several steps to bolster privacy protections for child users of its Xbox system.
Under the COPPA law, online services and websites aimed at kids under 13 must notify parents about the personal information they collect and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting and using any personal information collected from children.
Microsoft did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.


US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing

US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing
Updated 06 June 2023

US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing

US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing
  • The US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) conducted an investigation, but the report remains classified

WASHINGTON: US Senator Chris Van Hollen called on Monday for declassifying a government report on the death of Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was shot and killed while covering an Israeli army raid last year.
One of the most recognizable journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for two decades, Abu Akleh was killed in May 2022 during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. Her death triggered outrage across the region.
Israel says Abu Akleh, who was wearing a clearly marked protective press vest and helmet, was likely unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but could also have been struck by Palestinian fire. Abu Akleh’s family believes she was killed deliberately, and witnesses to the incident have said there were no Palestinian fighters firing in the area she was standing.
The US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) conducted an investigation, but the report remains classified. In a statement, Van Hollen, a Democrat on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said the report contains important insights into her death.
That includes “relevant information and findings about the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (Israeli military) unit involved in that operation – as well as other IDF units operating in the West Bank,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen said that while the USSC team was “unable to conduct an independent investigation” due to lack of access to key witnesses, the report’s public release was still vital to ensuring accountability in the shooting death of a US citizen.
The US State Department, which oversees the USSC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, Al Jazeera made a submission to the International Criminal Court over Abu Akleh’s killing. Her family has supported such efforts while urging action by the Biden administration.
Israel insists that its soldiers do not deliberately target journalists and has refused to identify the soldier who may have shot Abu Akleh.