AlUla showcases artistic vision in Paris with ‘Orbis Tertius’  

AlUla showcases artistic vision in Paris with ‘Orbis Tertius’  
Visitors to the opening night of 'Orbis Tertius' in Paris surround Monira Al-Qadiri's 'The Guardian'. (Supplied)
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Updated 24 October 2024
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AlUla showcases artistic vision in Paris with ‘Orbis Tertius’  

AlUla showcases artistic vision in Paris with ‘Orbis Tertius’  
  • Exhibition of work from the AlUla Artist Residency Program was part of this year’s Art Basel 

PARIS: The AlUla Artist Residency Program made its debut in France during Art Basel Paris this month with “Orbis Tertius,” an exhibition showcasing the work of 20 international artists. The program was launched in 2021 by the Royal Commission for AlUla in collaboration with the French Agency for AlUla Development. 

The exhibition is part of Arts AlUla’s global program to promote the ancient oasis city as an emerging hub for art and creativity. For millennia, AlUla was a key location for trade and culture — it is home to Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, and was a stop on the Incense Road. AlUla’s pre-Islamic heritage and breathtaking landscape continue to inspire groundbreaking artistic expressions, as shown in “Orbis Tertius.” 




Arnaud Morand, AFALULA, Curator, Orbis Tertius (2024). (Supplied)

Artist and photographer Louis-Cyprien Rials told Arab News that at the heart of his residency was “the almost-uncomfortable idea of being nothing in a place that seems eternal and easily reminds us of our insignificance.” 

Located in the palm grove of Mabiti AlUla, and with a newly-opened artists’ residence in AlJadidadh, the program offers an ideal setting for artists to reflect on the role and methods of creative practice in the contemporary world. It encourages a dynamic dialogue between the artists, as well as with the local community in AlUla.  

This residency program, according to curator Arnaud Morand, head of art and creative industries at AFALULA, is “unique.” The artists are enrolled by invitation only after submission of a portfolio and a letter of intent. The breakdown of nationalities is roughly half Arab, half international.  

“The artists had to have an established practice of interest and relevant to us, working between past and future heritage,” Morand explained. “In the unconventional and intense context of this desert oasis, they were working closely with the local communities. Many had previous experience in collaborating with scientists and experts. Spending a minimum of 10 weeks on the ground was mandatory. The artists met and interacted with AlUla’s field specialists; archaeologists, geologists, anthropologists, agronomists, botanists, heritage conservatists and environmental workers. If this time commitment was not possible for them, their candidature could not be considered.” 

It was Morand who chose the theme “Orbis Tertius, A Journey Between Fictions and Myths” for the show, inspired by the Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges, whose “Fictions” explores how our world can be better understood through a blend of ancient myths and legends and observed reality.  

“AlUla reinvents itself every day as a fundamental utopia of the 21st century,” Morand said. “The residency program offers a framework for creatives to integrate and meaningfully engage with the bigger project. It also provides an insight into how the community processes change. Ultimately, it steers us in the right direction, drawing on the artists’ perceptions and questions while offering time and an unparalleled context to develop their practice.” 

At Art Basel, “Orbis Tertius” was displayed over four floors of the gallery at 5 rue Saint-Merri, a stone’s throw away from the Pompidou Center. The works were not confined to a single medium. The 20 contemporary artists presented 43 works that included paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs, poetry, calligraphy, brickmaking, installations and live performances.  

In pride of place on the ground floor stood the 4.5 meter “The Guardian,” an aluminum sculpture by Kuwaiti artist Monira Al-Qadiri, whose work examines nature’s hostile retaliation to human presence in the environment. Her totemic sculpture is based on the Calotropis Procera, a plant native to the region, which grows on arid soil, and can survive for up to three years without a single drop of water. The Calotropis Procera secretes a milky substance that Bedouin lore has it can cause blindness. 

The Jeddah-born multidisciplinary artist Anhar Salem works primarily in film. Her “A Day in AlUla” is a series of eight subtly beautiful social portrait vlogs documenting a day in the life of local and foreign AlUla residents.  




.A still from Anhar Salem's 'A Day in AlUla.'(Supplied)

“I had to choose between approaching AlUla through its landscape and history or through its social and public aspects,” Salem said. “I ultimately chose the latter by simply talking to everyone I met from AlUla.” 

Brothers Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz live and work in Jeddah, where they founded the architecture, design and experimental research studio Bricklab in 2015. During their residency, the brothers used rammed-earth techniques to develop a resilient material for construction unique to the region. Combining sand collected from different parts of AlUla with concrete, epoxy and other artificial additives, the bricks condense the storied narratives that make up AlUla today. 

Jizan-based Reem Al-Nasser bases her work on anthropological study and concepts such as time, space and astrology. During her residency, she created “Alma of the North,” a structure of brilliant steel gates ornamented with archaeological and astronomical symbols found in AlUla’s history. 

Riyadh-based Ayman Zedani’s immersive video installation “The Desert Keeper” was a result of research he had conducted on a parasitic plant from the Arabian desert over the past few years. It can acquire genes from its host plant, thus assuring the survival of its offspring. His work combined footage of the plants with a computer-generated journey through the cosmos and a voiceover by the writer and poet Wided Rihana Khdraoul. 




Ayman Zedani's 'The Desert Keepers.' (Supplied)

“AlUla has long been a crossroads of cultures and a wellspring of creativity,” Nora Aldabal, executive director of arts and creative industries at the RCU, said in a press release. “With the AlUla Artist Residency Program, we are showcasing the extraordinary artistic vision flourishing in AlUla and demonstrating its power to bridge cultures and inspire dialogue.”  

“Orbis Tertius,” she continued, was “a testament to incredible inspiration that artists and creatives discover in AlUla — a place where the world can connect with ancient history and experience contemporary artistic expressions. AlUla’s ambition for art, design and culture is to create a better future for the region, generating jobs and opportunities for cultural enrichment for those who live, work and visit there.”  


Red Sea International Film Festival’s final red carpet draws global cinema icons

Red Sea International Film Festival’s final red carpet draws global cinema icons
Updated 14 min 44 sec ago
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Red Sea International Film Festival’s final red carpet draws global cinema icons

Red Sea International Film Festival’s final red carpet draws global cinema icons

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival held its closing red carpet event and Yusr Awards ceremony on Thursday night.

Stars from Hollywood, Bollywood and beyond walked the red carpet at the festival’s new headquarters in Al-Balad in Jeddah.

The likes of British actor and filmmaker Dev Patel, British actor John Boyega and Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio were on the closing event’s red carpet, although the festival will continue its slate of screenings until Dec. 14.

Hollywood’s Sarah Jessica Parker will also walk the red carpet as Bollywood-to-Hollywood crossover star Priyanka Chopra Jonas and her husband, musician Nick Jonas, will pose for photographs along with Mexican actress Eiza Gonzalez.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee — known for films such as “Malcolm X” and “BlacKkKlansman” — presided over the features competition jury this year, which will award the coveted Yusr Awards late on Thursday night. Meanwhile, Oscar-winning actress and producer Viola Davis and Chopra-Jonas will be honored at the closing event.

Lee spoke to Arab News hours before the awards ceremony, saying the festival’s international slate of films impressed him.

“It’s just great. The films (that) were curated for us (were) from a lot of the countries in the region. I like to show my students at (New York University) world cinema, because everything’s not Hollywood. And that is how you learn about a culture, the stories that they tell reflect the history and the herstory — you’ve got to say both now — of the world we live in.”

Lee kept tight lipped about the winners, saying: “The 16 films that were in competition, we had a lot of choices. So, we deliberated amongst my fellow jurors, it was hard to pick.”

Of the 14 awards up for grabs at the Yusr Awards ceremony, the Golden Yusr Best Feature Film Award, the Best Director prize and the Jury Award are the most coveted.

The festival, which is running under the theme “The New Home of Film” this year, featured 120 films from 81 countries at the new venue — previous ones were held at the city’s Ritz-Carlton hotel — where five purpose-built cinemas and a large auditorium hosted back-to-back screenings as well as “In Conversation” panels with celebrities.

Those talks proved to be the biggest draw of the festival, with leading Hollywood and Bollywood stars featured on the agenda. From Indian superstars Kareena Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor to Marvel actor Jeremy Renner and Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser, as well as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, among others, this year’s bill was not short on star power.

Johnny Depp’s film “Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness” is the closing ceremony screening on Thursday night and Depp is expected to walk a separate red carpet before the screening.


Priyanka Chopra Jonas eyeing Bollywood return in 2025, crossover star says at RSIFF

Priyanka Chopra Jonas eyeing Bollywood return in 2025, crossover star says at RSIFF
Updated 12 December 2024
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Priyanka Chopra Jonas eyeing Bollywood return in 2025, crossover star says at RSIFF

Priyanka Chopra Jonas eyeing Bollywood return in 2025, crossover star says at RSIFF
  • Misses dancing and culture, she says at Red Sea film festival
  • Feels ‘fortunate’ to work in 2 of world’s largest film industries

JEDDAH: Bollywood fans can rest easy — Indian superstar and film producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas is not yet done with India’s film industry and is planning to return as soon as 2025.

“I’ve been seeking to do something again. It’s been almost six, seven years since I’ve done a movie back in India. I’m hoping next year … I’m very close,” Chopra Jonas told Arab News.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, where she was honored at the closing ceremony on Thursday.

“I like a couple of things very much. I’m really hoping next year I do an Indian movie, because I miss the dancing,” she said.

“I miss the language, I miss Indian culture. I miss working with the crew that I’ve grown up working with in the Indian film industry,” continued Chopra Jonas, who is married to American musician Nick Jonas.

“So I really never transitioned from Bollywood to Hollywood. The idea was always to balance both. I think I’m very fortunate to be one of the very few talents that can work in two of the largest film industries in the world. And I am very proud of that.”

Chopra Jonas is coming off a packed 2024 schedule where she completed filming on two massive projects, including Amazon Prime Video’s “Citadel” season two and the Hollywood swashbuckler action film “The Bluff,” co-starring Karl Urban.

The series “Citadel,” produced by “Avenger: Endgame” filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo, and also starring “Game of Thrones” actor Richard Madden, introduced two new international spin-off series this year, with two more in the works.

While “Citadel: Diana” is set in Italy, “Citadel: Hunny Bunny,” starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan, follows the lives of Chopra Jonas’ character Nadia Sinh’s parents.

“I think it’s the only show of its kind in the world to try to achieve that, which is having other original shows from local languages that are all connected. I don’t think that’s ever been achieved in entertainment.

“And it’s a really ambitious idea, and only, I guess, Amazon Prime Video could pull it off. I’ve worked with them a lot this year, and as a studio they just have really ambitious ideas, and I’ve had a great time working this year with them,” said Chopra Jonas.

She added: “The second season was really fun to film because we’ve now connected stories from our international shows as well. In the second season, we have a lot of new cast that’s come in.

“Joe Russo directed most of it himself, which was really cool, because he’s just incredibly talented when it comes to shooting something at that scale, but yet not losing the integrity of your characters. So that was really wonderful.

“I think this season is very grounded. It’s very about the characters and what is happening with each one of our stories, which I think people will find really, really interesting.”

Chopra Jonas also stars in the upcoming pirate flick “The Bluff,” from British indie filmmaker Frank E. Flowers. Apart from Chopra Jonas and Urban, the film also stars “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” actor Ismael Cruz Cordova.

“I mean, to play a female pirate is an incredible opportunity, and especially because female pirates actually existed. So, it was really wonderful for me to start doing research into the 1800s and 1700s and, you know, read about amazing, legendary female pirates like Grace O’Malley.

“And it was just really amazing to think that in the 1700s you have like women that were captains of pirate ships and did what we usually see men do,” she said.

“And then when I read the script, it’s a really grounded movie. So, it’s not like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ where, you know, it’s like fun, but it’s like the serious version of what piracy actually was like, and pillaging.

“And so it’s a wonderful story about a woman trying to save her family from her past. I love that story. We shot it in Australia over three months. The story is based in the Cayman Islands, so we recreated that. And, yeah, I finished shooting that in August, and then I went into ‘Citadel’ season two.”

Chopra Jonas shot to fame in Bollywood in the early noughties and starred in several blockbusters including “Don 2” and the “Krrish” franchise before catching the eye of Hollywood casting directors, most notably with 2017’s “Baywatch” and 2021’s “The Matrix Resurrections.”


Still to screen: Movies you can catch this weekend at RSIFF

Still to screen: Movies you can catch this weekend at RSIFF
Updated 12 December 2024
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Still to screen: Movies you can catch this weekend at RSIFF

Still to screen: Movies you can catch this weekend at RSIFF
  • With just two days to go, here are a handful of the films coming up at the festival

‘Holes’ 

Director: Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan 

Starring: Mariam Abdulrahman, Meshal Almutairi 

Saudi writer-director Aldhabaan’s latest feature has echoes of his last, “The Matchmaker,” in that “Holes” is also a psychological thriller. It centers on Rakan and his wife Rim, desperate to find their own place so that they no longer have to live with Rakan’s mother. The only issue with their new home is the hole that someone appears to have hammered through one of its walls. After moving in, Rakan becomes increasingly distant from his wife. Through flashbacks, we begin to learn why his mood has changed, and when his mother is attacked by burglars breaking into her house, Rakan is confronted by an unwelcome reminder of his past.  

‘Better Man’ 

Director: Michael Gracey 

Starring: Robbie Williams, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman 

It’s the story of UK pop superstar Robbie Williams, but “Better Man” is not your average musical biopic. While the rest of the cast consists of actors (including some of England’s finest), Williams is played by a CGI chimpanzee (voiced by the man himself), because of Williams’ feeling of being a “performing monkey” for most of his career. The result is actually genuinely moving as we follow Williams’ meteoric rise as a member of boy band Take That through his record-breaking solo career to his struggles with fame, addiction and depression — arguably far more moving because of the choice to not have Williams, or, indeed, any other actor, play the lead. An astonishing technical achievement. 

‘Lail Nahar’ 

Director: Abdulaziz Almuzaini  

Starring: Abdullah Al-Sadhan, Zyad Alamri, Nawaf Alsulaiman 

Saudi writer-director Almuzaini is best known as the co-creator of the wildly popular animated series “Masameer.” With “Lail Nahar” he turns his satirical lens on the Saudi entertainment industry. Popular singer Nahar is accused of racism in a video that goes viral. To counter the accusations, he announces — live — his upcoming marriage to a black woman. There’s just one snag: he doesn’t yet have a fiancée. However, he comes to an arrangement with a wedding singer, and the pair find that their fake romance unexpectedly blossoms into an emotional journey.   

‘My Driver and I’ 

Director: Ahd Kamel 

Starring: Roula Dakheelallah, Mishaal Tamer, Mustafa Shehata 

Saudi actress, writer, director and producer Kamel mines her own childhood in this coming-of-age story set in Jeddah in the Eighties and Nineties. It centers on the relationship between a rebellious girl, Salma, and her family’s chauffeur, a Sudanese man named Gamar, who quickly becomes her confidant and something of a father figure in lieu of her real dad, an always-on-the-go businessman. But as Salma grows up, their relationship becomes strained as Gamar tries to rein in her defiance, believing that he is protecting her reputation.  

‘Night of the Zoopocalypse’ 

Directors: Ricardo Curtis, Rodrigo Perez-Castro 

Voice cast: Gabbi Kosmidis, David Harbour, Scott Thompson 

Animated comedy-horror inspired by a short story by English horror writer Clive Barker. A meteorite crashes into Colepepper Zoo, releasing a virus that turns the majority of the animals there into zombies. The handful of survivors, led by a young wolf named Gracie and the gruff old mountain lion Dan, team up to find a cure and defeat the mutant Bunny King. Family-friendly fun.  

‘Yalla Parkour’ 

Director: Areeb Zuaiter 

Starring: Areeb Zuaiter, Ahmad Matar 

Palestine-born filmmaker Zuaiter’s debut feature documentary picked up the International Prize at DOC NYC. It was reportedly 10 years in the making and was completed before the events of Oct. 7, 2023 (although the ongoing destruction of Gaza is noted in the prologue). The film was inspired by internet footage the Washington-based Zuaiter discovered in 2013 of a group of young men performing parkour in Khan Yunis, in south Gaza. At the time, Zuaiter was searching for connection to her homeland, having lost her Palestinian mother. Via social media, she gets in touch with one of the athletes, Ahmad Matar, and they begin to talk about life in Gaza — where Zuaiter is unable to visit. But with Matar as her guide, she begins to rediscover childhood memories, and to see parkour as a form of hope and freedom in the face of oppression.  

‘A Sudden Case of Christmas’ 

Director: Peter Chelsom 

Starring: Danny DeVito, Andie MacDowell, Wilmer Valderrama 

This seasonal film is a family affair on several levels, not least because comedy legend Danny DeVito stars alongside his daughter Lucy. It’s the story of an American couple on the verge of separating. To break the news to their 10-year-old daughter Claire, they take a trip to her grandfather’s hotel in Italy. Hoping that she can hatch a plan to keep her parents together, Claire asks the whole family to celebrate a final Christmas together. In August.   


REVIEW: Keira Knightley fronts wonderfully over-the-top spy drama ‘Black Doves’

REVIEW: Keira Knightley fronts wonderfully over-the-top spy drama ‘Black Doves’
Updated 12 December 2024
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REVIEW: Keira Knightley fronts wonderfully over-the-top spy drama ‘Black Doves’

REVIEW: Keira Knightley fronts wonderfully over-the-top spy drama ‘Black Doves’
  • Knightley and Ben Whishaw dazzle in new Netflix show

LONDON: It’s not uncommon to see Keira Knightley on TV around the festive period — usually in reruns of “Love Actually” or the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. But “Black Doves” – a new six-part Netflix series from writer/creator Joe Barton – sees Knightley in an altogether different Christmas setting.  

On the streets of festive London, Knightley’s Helen is swept up in a world of snipers and espionage after the death of a civil servant forces her everyday life as a devoted wife and mother to overlap with her secret career as a Black Dove — a spy who has been passing secrets from her politician husband to a shadowy organization run by spymaster Reed (Sarah Lancashire, devouring every single scene she’s in). With Helen now a target, her friend and master assassin Sam (Ben Whishaw) sweeps in to help her get to the bottom of the threat. 

What follows is a fast-paced caper that’s equal parts whodunnit, violent gangster flick and British character drama. Knightley’s Helen is all polished calm with simmering rage, Whishaw’s Sam is an amiable, charming man with a terrifying aptitude for violence. Together, the two form one of the most dynamic on-screen partnerships of recent years. Each part of their history — some hinted at, some told via flashbacks — feels captivatingly real and relatable, despite the fact that both have more spy skills than Bond and Bourne combined. 

At times, it’s super-tropey — characters write important names and events on notepads, or whispered flashbacks are used to remind us that what’s happening is Very Important Because of That Thing That Guy Said Last Episode. But where such heavy-handedness is usually an irritation, “Black Doves” leans into its pulpy tendencies, and is actually all the better for it. Because it’s that combination of highly implausible spy thriller and decidedly British sensibilities that makes this show fizz. It’s great to see Helen battle a knife-wielding assassin in her kitchen, or to see Sam decimate attackers in his pajamas (it remains, though, very disconcerting to hear the voice of Paddington Bear discussing a shootout), but it’s also great to hear them bicker about their personal lives in between set pieces.  

“Black Doves” is a wonderful, festive surprise — a show that’s as good as the sum of its impressive parts, and then some. 


Review: First-time director Anderson .Paak brings humor and magic to RSIFF title ‘K-Pops’

Review: First-time director Anderson .Paak brings humor and magic to RSIFF title ‘K-Pops’
Updated 12 December 2024
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Review: First-time director Anderson .Paak brings humor and magic to RSIFF title ‘K-Pops’

Review: First-time director Anderson .Paak brings humor and magic to RSIFF title ‘K-Pops’

JEDDAH: Cinema can go overboard with emotional relationships, and this is where American singer and rapper Anderson .Paak’s Red Sea International Film Festival title “K-Pops” hits the right notes without sinking into a morose medley. Entertaining, with music that keeps the audience engaged, the film follows BJ, a washed-up drummer whose life turns around when he meets his teenage son for the first time.

.Paak himself plays the father, who is still holding out in middle age for rock’n’roll stardom while his real-life son Soul Rasheed plays the fictional Tae Young, whose mother Yeji is Korean.

The film was partially shot in Saudi Arabia's AlUla. (Supplied)

BJ gets an unexpected gig on a Korean talent show and discovers that Tae Young is a hotly-tipped contestant.

The movie travels beyond the Korean cultural scene by exploring the love life of its protagonist, who on a trip to Korea meets his old lover, Yeji (Jee Young Han), and learns that he has had a son by her. The two make up for lost time, and the scenes between them are handled subtly by .Paak – laudable for a debutant director who is also a multi-Grammy winner.  Eager to make up for lost parenting time, BJ becomes the boy’s mentor but as the film goes on, we realize the father needs to grow up alongside his son.

Partly shot in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla as part of a multi-film deal between Film AlUla and global media company Stampede Ventures, the work turns out to be endearingly personal and the ties between father and son are magical. Touchingly tender, it is an easy watch, in part because of the strong chemistry between all three lead stars. What is more, interracial complexities are woven into the plot, although I did feel that these could have been explored a little more — a somewhat understated screenplay could have been reason and more layered storytelling would have been welcome. However, the film's comedic touches make up for this and .Paak is mesmeric, especially when he gets the audience to laugh the loudest. Leisurely executed, the movie flows along like a lazy river that is a joy to ride.