DUBAI, 8 December 2004 — Syrian international director Mustafa Al Akkad and Egyptian pop-star Amr Diab reached an agreement at the Dubai International Film Festival here with Amr accepting to star in the new film “Amir Al Andalus” (Prince of Andalusia) alongside Hollywood star Salma Hayek.
The film, which has a budget of 100 million Egyptian pounds, is to feature the era before the fall of Andalusia. Amr is to play the role of a young man who loves music and falls in love with a girl from Andalusia.
The romantic musical will be shot in Spain and will be action-packed. Amr is to sing a number of English songs. The singer and Mustafa will tour Spain after the Christmas holidays to decide on the best places to shoot the scenes.
Mustafa is most famous for directing internationally known films like “Al Risalah” (The Message) and “Omar Al-Khattab”, which featured international actors like Anthony Quinn.
Diab recently held a successful concert at the Carling Apollo in Hammersmith, London. The concert was sponsored by AG Productions, which specializes in organizing concerts and the promotion of the brightest singers from the Arab world around Europe.
Meanwhile, American actor Morgan Freeman gave a major boost to the festival yesterday, turning out in support of the only movie he has ever directed and which he hopes will help serve the event’s bid to bring the East and the West closer together.
“Bopha!” is set in South Africa during the apartheid era and a movie which Freeman said never got the attention it deserved, was made more than 10-years ago but is making its Middle East premiere at the Gulf state’s first ever film extravaganza.
“I think the more festivals there are, and in diverse places, the better chance we have of being able to see everybody’s work,” said Freeman. “Ignorance is the main thing that divides people and cultures. I think one of the best mediums for overcoming ignorance is sharing stories with each other, so hopefully this festival and others like it will carry on that.”
Directing “Bopha!” was an experiment for Freeman but one that didn’t sway him enough to a more permanent move behind the camera. “I’ll stick to acting,” said the 67-year-old, who has made more than 66 films and who recently learned to fly.
His next project is in Montreal in a movie called “Lucky Number Slevin” with fellow Hollywood actors Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley and Lucy Liu.
Also, the animated film to be produced in the Gulf went on show for the first-time at the festival.
It is a result of a joint venture by the six Gulf Cooperation Council states. “It’s symbolic because this is the first Dubai Film Festival and the first animated film in the Gulf,” Kuwaiti producer Hashim Mohammed said.
“The Jungle Kid” (Ibn Al-Ghabah) is based on the 12th century Arabic literature story “Hai ibn Yaqzan” by Ibn Toufyl, but has been adapted for children and so toned down in its philosophical content although it remains thought-provoking, its producers said. “It’s about a boy who discovers God all by himself,” said Osama Al-Rumany, a member of the Kuwait-based GCC Joint Programs Production Institution.
The film to be screened tomorrow, tells the story of an infant raised by a deer on a oasis after being abandoned by his mother in order to save his life. “He discovers there should be only one creator for the whole system,” before he is found by sailors at 14 years of age and re-united with his mother, he explained.
