Saudi-supported ‘Front Row’ screens in Toronto

Saudi-supported ‘Front Row’ screens in Toronto
The film is Allouche’s 19th feature. (TIFF)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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Saudi-supported ‘Front Row’ screens in Toronto

Saudi-supported ‘Front Row’ screens in Toronto

DUBAI: Algerian filmmaker Merzak Allouche’s family dramedy “Front Row,” supported by the Red Sea Fund, screened this week at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival.

Allouche’s 19th feature tells the story of two matriarchs, Zohra Bouderbala and Safia Kadouri, who find themselves in conflict during a day at the beach. Zohra, accompanied by her five children, arrives early to secure a desirable spot, but tension arises when the Kadouri family is placed directly in front of them by a beach attendant.

As the two families engage in a passive-aggressive battle, teenage romance quietly unfolds in the background, adding to the drama.

The film stars Fatiha Ouared as Bouderbala, Bouchra Roy as Kadouri, and Nabil Asli as Hakim, the beach attendant.


Saudi artist Daniah Alsaleh: ‘We can celebrate tradition, but we really need to be open to change’ 

Saudi artist Daniah Alsaleh: ‘We can celebrate tradition, but we really need to be open to change’ 
Updated 11 October 2024
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Saudi artist Daniah Alsaleh: ‘We can celebrate tradition, but we really need to be open to change’ 

Saudi artist Daniah Alsaleh: ‘We can celebrate tradition, but we really need to be open to change’ 
  • The Saudi artist discusses some of her favorite works and their common themes 

DUBAI: “I call myself a visual artist that focuses on social conditioning and memory.” That’s Saudi artist Daniah Alsaleh’s ‘elevator pitch.’ But, like all such handy soundbites, it fails to convey the complexity and ambition of her layered, multimedia works, which have seen her land several prestigious residencies and awards, including the 2019 Ithra Art Prize. 

For someone whose work has made such an impression on so many, Alsaleh took quite some time to convince herself she was ready to present that work, which at the time was largely influenced by Islamic geometry, to the world.  

“I was interested in art from a young age, but I never really had the opportunity — I went to school and university in Riyadh, where I was born,” Alsaleh tells Arab News. “It was when I moved to Jeddah that I really got into art. I studied at the atelier of Safeya Binzagr, who recently passed away, for probably five, six years. That’s how I really learned the basics of drawing, painting, color theory, shape and form. Then, every time I had the chance to travel abroad, I would take courses in paintings and life drawings. I got hooked on Islamic geometry, and then — after all these years of learning arts, probably around 10 years, I had the confidence to actually finish artworks.” 

Her first show was a group exhibition in 2012. “No one knew who I was, but a lot of the people asked about my work,” she says. In 2013, she joined the roster of artists at Athr Gallery. Now, she says, “it was getting serious,” and she decided to become a full-time artist. In 2014, she moved to London. 

“I decided to apply for a Master’s in Fine Art at Goldsmiths. I didn’t get in but they offered me a place on another program, which was called Computational Arts and that changed my practice completely, 180 degrees,” she says. “This program catered for artists with no background in technology and we were taught how to use physical computing to create installations, and coding as well — like processing and frameworks. I really got hooked. Machine learning resonated with me — we don’t call it AI, we call it machine learning; it’s a program that learns. It changed my practice completely from Islamic geometry to a more contemporary way of expressing myself.  

“I’m not an AI artist. I’m a visual artist,” she continues. “I have machine learning in my toolbox, next to my paints and next to my canvas and next to my videos and next to my audio files and next to my photos. And depending on the context, I just choose which tool I want to use.” 

As suggested by her elevator pitch, that context usually involves exploring our relationship with memory and media.  

“I’m interested in social conditioning in the everyday — things that we take at face value, things that we take for granted,” she says. “These things that we habitually do, where do they come from? And usually I look at media and how that affects us; how it affects our memory, what stays and what gets erased. And how we reprogram our memories, sometimes, just from looking at content on social media. So that’s really what my interest is.” 

Here, Alsaleh talks us through some of her most significant works. 

‘Restitution’ 

This is an example of my older work. It’s from 2017. You see this perfectly organized structure — five panels of hand-drawn Islamic patterns — but then there’s this random brushstroke across them all. That’s my intervention. It’s a commentary on how we are very hooked on celebrating tradition and practices. We can celebrate and appreciate history and tradition, but, at the same time, we really need to be open to change — accepting new things and new ideas. 

‘Sawtam’ 

This artwork — an audio-visual installation — was a big transition for me; a big jump from my paintings. It was created while I was still doing my Master’s, and it’s the piece that won the Ithra Art Prize in 2019. It addresses forms of expression. The visuals were inspired by Manfred Mohr, a German new-media artist who created similar images based on algorithms in the Sixties, and they move or vibrate every time the sound comes out. There were sounds coming from every screen — the pronunciation of the Arabic letters — and when you put them all together in one space, it’s like a cacophony of noise. It’s a commentary on how communication sometimes gets lost, or sometimes gets through. It has a lot of meanings, and it’s very layered, but it’s basically about communication and forms of expression.  

‘That Which Remains’ 

This is a large installation I did for the first edition of the Diriyah Biennale. Again, it’s about memory: collective memory versus individual memory. Collective memory is where we remember things in monuments and celebrations — like National Days. That’s where our collective memory is. But within individual memories, a lot of things get lost, especially when there’s a lot of development and change. So, it’s a — very gentle — commentary about what we’re witnessing and experiencing in Saudi Arabia right now: the individual memories of these characters on the cylinders, which are the buildings and the houses and the structures that are being developed and changed.  

The faces on the cylinders are machine-generated. They’re deep fakes. I collected my own data sets of faces, and then trained the machine to learn to create new faces for me. And then I took those new faces and transferred them onto the cylinders. The paintings are inside-out, so when the cylinder is lit, you can see these shadows of these faces. And then people who visit say, ‘Oh, she resembles my aunt, this resembles my uncle’ and so on. They might resemble them, because they have Saudi or Gulf aesthetics, and the machine learns what you focus on. So if my data set focuses on a certain aesthetic, that’s what it creates. But these people never existed. 

‘Evanesce’ 

This was actually based on my degree show at university. I have two identities: The Western identity and the Gulf identity. And whenever I’m in the West, the news is so different from the news you see in the Middle East. Like, since the Iraq War, all the images you see about Iraq are destruction and war and poverty and craziness and explosions and guns. But what I know about Iraq is culture and arts and literature and science. So for my degree show I collected all these images, Iraqi images, from the 40s, 50s and 60s, for the machine-learning program and created these new images with, like old photo aesthetics. But they’re all deep fakes. And “Evanesce” is a continuation of this research, but focused on the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema. I watched a lot of Egyptian movies, and I collected 15 tropes that are repeated in most of them — the extravagant stairways, the cars, answering the old classical telephone, the belly dancer, the family gathering over breakfast, the chaos in the morning, the protagonists and their friends, the embrace and the romance, the palm trees and the close up of certain buildings. I created data sets based on each trope, and then each data set was trained on a machine-learning program. So then I had 15 outputs of this machine learning based on these tropes, which I stitched together to create this 10-minute film. And this morphing from one image to the other that you see in the video just resembles how we remember things. Again, it’s a commentary about social conditioning. These movies are so prevalent and so important in the MENA region within conservative societies, but the images on screen really contradicted their culture and their values. So it’s a commentary on how, as a society, we watch these things that really contradict our belief system and tradition. But there’s some sort of… it’s similar to obsession. These movie stars and these movies were an obsession to a lot of people within conservative countries. It’s instilled in the collective memory and still resonates to this day. These movies spread from North Africa to the Middle East, to lots of regions where there are a lot of conservatives. So there’s a lot of tension and contradiction between these two worlds. 

‘Hinat’ 

This is an important piece for me. It was created during a residency I had in AlUla in 2022. It’s based on this Nabatean woman — Hinat — who has a tomb in (Hegra). That was very inspiring to me. Obviously, she was from a very prominent family, because she was wealthy enough to have a tomb for herself, and it was under her name. This installation is made up of collages of different views of AlUla and I cut out rectangles on each canvas, and I projected videos into the rectangles. These videos are inspired by Hinat, imagining her future generations, from her bloodline, living in AlUla and roaming around across these landscapes. And the videos were created by machine learning. I hired three ladies from AlUla. We went to different locations and got them to wear these different colorful fabrics. The we shot videos and created data sets from each video, and then trained the program, and it created these very ghostly, abstract figures that move across these landscapes. 

‘E Proxy’ 

This was part of a solo show I did in 2023. It’s a video in which a face morphs into an emoji and then morphs back into a face. It’s a commentary about the ubiquity of emojis and the way we express ourselves in emoticons and pictograms. It’s interesting to me and it’s important. You can’t express our range of emotions in, like, 10 or 20 smileys. It’s just so restrictive. So, what’s happening there? I’m not giving an answer, but I’m opening up a space for questioning ourselves. And, listen, I’m a big advocate of emojis — they help me save time. But I’m asking what is happening here: Is it conditioning us into being less expressive? Or are we conditioning it to be a tool to help us express ourselves? There is this duality. I mean, there’s no correct point of view; it’s very subjective. But it’s always worth raising these questions. 

‘The Gathering’ 

This was the result of another residency I did, supported by the French Embassy in Saudi Arabia, with Catherine Gfeller, a French-Swiss artist. We wanted to know who are the females that are living in Riyadh — not necessarily Saudis — as it goes through this explosion of art and culture and infrastructure. I was born and raised in Riyadh — I live in Jeddah now, but I know Riyadh very well, and I’ve seen the changes. And I’m just in awe and disbelief at what I’m seeing. So, to cut a long story short, we did an open call, and there were 37 ladies who participated who came from 11 different countries — different backgrounds, different generations, different professions. We interviewed them and videoed those interviews, and my focus was on the emotional side of things: How do you deal with loneliness in a big city? What does love mean to you? What about resentfulness? How about forgiveness? Then the audio of the interviews kind of fades in and out. I put them all together as though we’re sharing our thoughts and emotions — a female gathering. And the videos were all manipulated by AI as well; it’s a layered effect, and it’s referencing the different aspects of emotion that we go through.  

‘36’ 

This was part of the same project as “The Gathering.” It’s a composite of the faces of all the women who took part, except for one lady who refused to take off her niqab, so I couldn’t include her in this image. I don’t think this was a new idea — I bet it’s been done many times before — but what I wanted was a commentary on… faced with this perception of what Saudi Arabia is and what Riyadh is and who the women there are… actually, it’s a multicultural city with diverse backgrounds. And when you see this image, you don’t know where the ‘person’ comes from, what their ethnic background is, among other things. You can think of many things when you look at that image.  


REVIEW: ‘The Wild Robot’ — big on spectacle, big on emotion 

REVIEW: ‘The Wild Robot’ — big on spectacle, big on emotion 
Updated 11 October 2024
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REVIEW: ‘The Wild Robot’ — big on spectacle, big on emotion 

REVIEW: ‘The Wild Robot’ — big on spectacle, big on emotion 

DUBAI: With “The Wild Robot,” Chris Sanders has created a masterpiece of modern cinema. Visually stunning — imagine the most vivid painting come to life in all its glorious color and detail — with a fresh take on a familiar story, soaring background score and impeccable voicework from industry heavyweights. This is not just the best animated feature in recent cinema history, but one of the best movies, period. 

“The Wild Robot,” based on the children’s book of the same name by Peter Brown, tells the story of a helper robot — ROZZUM unit 7134 (or Roz), voiced by Lupita Nyong’o — who washes up on the beach of an uninhabited (by humans, anyway) island after the cargo ship transporting her is caught in a typhoon.  

“The Wild Robot” tells the story of a helper robot — ROZZUM unit 7134 (or Roz), voiced by Lupita Nyong’o — who washes up on the beach of an uninhabited (by humans, anyway) island after the cargo ship transporting her is caught in a typhoon. (Supplied)

The opening sequence follows Roz as she desperately looks for a master, chasing down the wild animals on the island, looking to be of service. Sanders creates magic as we’re introduced to the island’s inhabitants at breakneck speed. with visuals that mimic the hand-painted feel of the famed Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki’s work. 

While most of the island’s critters shy away from Roz’s exuberance, she finds purpose when she encounters an orphaned baby gosling, whom she eventually names Brightbill (Kit Connor). She decides to partner with local outcast, the wily fox Fink (voiced by a deliciously mischievous Pedro Pascal), to raise it. 

“The Wild Robot.” (Supplied)

What follows is a heartwarming story about what robots and parents are and are not programmed to do. From teaching Brightbill — the runt of his pack, not built to survive — to swim and fly so he can make it to the next great migration, to eliminating external threats, to surviving the harsh winter, Roz helps in every way she knows how, until she unlocks a reserve of potential she didn’t even know she had. It’s a feeling any parent will instantly recognize. 

Nyong’o puts her Oscar-winning talent to extraordinary use; her android voice at first devoid of feeling and infused with the people-pleasing measured cadence of a service professional, then slowly transforming into something entirely different. 

Get ready to sit with some big emotions surrounding parenting, community and friendship, then. “The Wild Robot” was engineered to make you cry, and cry you will. Best you can do is let it take you on its soulful journey. 


South Korea: easy on the eye, not so easy on the wallet 

South Korea: easy on the eye, not so easy on the wallet 
Updated 11 October 2024
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South Korea: easy on the eye, not so easy on the wallet 

South Korea: easy on the eye, not so easy on the wallet 
  • It’s deservedly popular with tourists from the Gulf, but make sure to watch your budget 

DUBAI: First off, a trip to South Korea is expensive. There’s no two ways about it. A return trip from Dubai costs in excess of $2,300 unless you opt to spending two days travelling in each direction. I chose the former. 

There’s a perception that if you love Japan, you’ll also love South Korea. In fact, I found that South Korea was nothing like Japan. But why should it be? The Japanese dynasty ended a long time ago. Korea feels more humble, less in-your-face. 

Seoul — the capital city — is large, clean, and very Western. The Metro system is busy and frequent, but unlike the public transport networks in the West, it feels safe. People are conscious of each other’s personal space and with a population of just over 10 million they need to be. But there’s no obvious fear of crime, everyone seems to have their heads buried in their phones. (For tourists, that might be because they’re checking their Korean translation app, an absolute necessity.) 

Starfield library. (Shutterstock)

To get the real vibe of this sprawling city — which is not dissimilar to Manhattan in New York — it’s worth walking the skyscraper-lined streets.  

There are coffee shops pretty much everywhere you look. And in the malls, food courts are filled with baked goods, noodles and all varieties of meat. And while the fare is OK, none of it feels especially Asian, and judging by comments made by chefs this writer knows, Korea is not a place for foodies.  

There’s a wide assortment of tours on offer — including a full day at the Demilitarized Zone on the North Korean border, which costs around $100 but is worth the effort and investment just to see across to the North with the guard posts in the distance and the 100-meter-high mast carrying the North Korean flag. You can also walk along a very claustrophobic tunnel dug by the North Koreans into the south. 

Jeju Island. (Shutterstock)

Back in Seoul, the Starfield Library boasts a vast collection of 50,000 books in shelves that scale two floors – a must for those seeking an Instagrammable moment. There’s also a kitsch tribute to the novelty pop hit “Gangnam Style” — if indeed that is your style. 

Seoul’s Anguk area is worth spending some time in; the art galleries and cafés have a youthful buzz and the Artist Bakery offered some beautifully mellow coffee and a huge selection of moreish salted butter bread treats. 

There’s much to see in South Korea outside of Seoul, of course. And a three-hour trip on the bullet train takes you to the small(ish) city of Busan in the south east of the peninsular, where things feel much less Westernized. It’s a city crammed with markets and malls, selling anything and everything.  

Find a hotel overlooking the water — there’s a lot of it and the fish market offers the chance to eat pretty much anything that is found in there. Be warned though, this place might look like a budget meal awaits you, but you can easily spend in excess of $40 for some octopus and something called “spoon worm” sashimi — the latter resembling a very particular internal organ. 

Gamcheon Cultural Village. (Shutterstock)

Gamcheon Cultural Village — an assembly of narrow lanes and small pastel-colored houses on the side of a hill — provides stunning views down the valley towards the sea; another place for Insta-moments. And the Songdo cable car is worth a ride for the equally spectacular photo-ops. 

Busan also provides plenty of opportunity to sample authentic and delicious Korean street food, just don’t be put off by the aesthetics of some of the outlets.  

My final stop was Jeju Island — an hour away by plane — where I spent a few days ambling about, taking in the beautiful coastline with its jagged volcanic rocks. From the many bus tours on offer, the east and south were the highlights. The Yeha Bus Tour is particularly good, with stops including Stone Park, an ancient village, and the 600-step climb up Seongsan Sunrise Peak for some stunning panoramic views of the volcanic crater and surrounding area (followed by the slow hobble back down). 

South Korea is certainly a destination worth visiting, but with a necessary proviso: Make sure you have plenty of disposable income so you can create memories that don’t break the bank.  


Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup, Manga Arabia to publish ‘Road To 2034’ special manga

Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup, Manga Arabia to publish ‘Road To 2034’ special manga
Updated 10 October 2024
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Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup, Manga Arabia to publish ‘Road To 2034’ special manga

Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup, Manga Arabia to publish ‘Road To 2034’ special manga
  • Special edition manga is part of SAFF’s efforts to build on the excitement as the Kingdom prepares to host the first 48-team FIFA World Cup held in a single nation
  • Partnership highlights Saudi Arabia’s ambition to celebrate its culture and legacy as part of its FIFA World Cup bid

DUBAI: The Saudi Arabia 2034 FIFA World Cup has entered a partnership with Saudi Research and Media Group’s Manga Arabia to release a special edition manga titled “Road to 2034” which aims to capture the imagination of young football fans and manga enthusiasts around the world.

The manga is a part of the Saudi Football Federation’s efforts to build on the excitement as the Kingdom prepares to host the first 48-team FIFA World Cup held in a single nation. Available in Japanese, English, and Arabic, it will be released both in print and digitally. 

The partnership highlights Saudi Arabia’s ambition to celebrate its culture and legacy as part of its FIFA World Cup bid, offering an opportunity to connect with youth across the world.

The collaboration also emphasizes the desire to inspire the next generation of young footballers to pursue their dreams through the powerful medium of storytelling.

The announcement falls on the same day as the World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Saudi Arabia and Japan, which is taking place at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. 

“Our bid unites our nation through a passion for the beautiful game and is powered by the dreams and ambitions of over 32 million people,” Hammad Albalawi, head of the Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup, said. “Through this manga, we are showing how our dream towards hosting the FIFA World Cup in ten years’ time is about inspiring future generations.

“We want to ensure we leave behind a lasting legacy. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to engaging our young population — 63 percent of which are under 30 — in ways that resonate with their interests while also showcasing and utilizing Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage on the global stage,” he added.

Rashid Al-Rashed, CEO of SRMG, also emphasized the importance of the partnership, saying it resonates with future generations, empowers local talents and promotes storytelling.  

Manga Arabia’s General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Essam Bukhary shared that the partnership highlights the Kingdom’s position in sports globally with the help of young Saudi talents, adding that the manga industry plays a huge role in society as it inspires future generations. 


Culture articulates beliefs, values that define a group of people, says Norway’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Culture articulates beliefs, values that define a group of people, says Norway’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Updated 10 October 2024
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Culture articulates beliefs, values that define a group of people, says Norway’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Culture articulates beliefs, values that define a group of people, says Norway’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia
  • Norwegian film shown as part of Nordic Culture Week
  • Ambassador Kjersti Tromsdal addresses attendees

RIYADH: Culture articulates beliefs, practices, values, and artistic expressions that define a group of people, said Norway’s new Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Kjersti Tromsdal, adding it shaped our daily lives, influenced interactions, and connected across generations.

Tromsdal was speaking at a Norwegian evening organized as part of Nordic Culture Week that included a special screening of the award-winning film “Songs of Earth” on Wednesday.

Tromsdal added that the Nordic countries shared a rich culture characterized by common values such as equality, community, and a deep respect for nature.

From food and folklore to design and language, these elements helped to create a sense of belonging, she added.

Nordic Culture Week 2024 in Riyadh celebrated the shared culture of the Nordic countries, and presented expressions of the countries’ culture to the people of Saudi Arabia, including films from Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Tromsdal said that in Norway the connection to nature was particularly profound, adding: “Our landscapes, from majestic fjords to rich forests, are not just beautiful: They are integral to our identity.

“The concept of ‘open-air living’ reflects our belief that nature is essential for our well-being. It encourages us to embrace the outdoors, whether through hiking, skiing, or simply enjoying spending time outside in crisp air.”

Tromsdal added that this bond with nature was expressed in folk tales, music, and art, reminding all people of their responsibility to protect the environment.

She added: “This brings me to the special screening of the award-winning film ‘Songs of Earth’ by Margreth Olin, who is a prominent Norwegian filmmaker. She has gained recognition for her ability to explore complex social issues through a cinematic lens.

“The documentary ‘Songs of Earth’ illustrates the intricate relationship between humans and nature, capturing the essence of how our surroundings influence our lives and cultures.

“The film brings us through one of Norway’s most scenic valleys, where generations have been living alongside nature to survive. This is where the filmmaker’s father, now 85 years old, grew up. He will be our guide and take us through the four seasons in Olderdalen.”

The speech preceded the showing of the film.