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Saudi jewelry brand APOA among winners at Fashion Trust Arabia Awards in Morocco

Saudi jewelry brand APOA among winners at Fashion Trust Arabia Awards in Morocco
Saudi Arabia jewelry label APOA won a top prize at the highly-anticipated Fashion Trust Arabia Awards’ sixth edition in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Thursday night.
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Updated 25 October 2024
Arab News
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Saudi jewelry brand APOA among winners at Fashion Trust Arabia Awards in Morocco

Saudi jewelry brand APOA among winners at Fashion Trust Arabia Awards in Morocco
  • Brand founded by Saudi princesses in 2023 won the jewelry award
  • Al-Saud cousins are Mashael Khalid, Nourah Abdulaziz, Sarah Naif
Updated 25 October 2024
Arab News
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DUBAI: Saudi Arabia jewelry label APOA won a top prize at the highly-anticipated Fashion Trust Arabia Awards’ sixth edition in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Thursday night.

Some of the celebrity guests at the event included Emirati singer Balqees Fathi, British model Jourdan Dunn, Egyptian-Dutch model Imaan Hammam, Lebanese-British fashion entrepreneur Karen Wazen and American-Lebanese supermodel Nour Arida.

The company, which won in the jewelry category, posted a picture on its Instagram Stories page of the award, with the caption: “Thank you to everyone who’s ever believed in us, supported us, wore our pieces, shared our story, and celebrated us tonight! We love you.”

The Riyadh-based brand was founded by Saudi Arabia princesses Mashael Khalid Al-Saud, Nourah Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Sarah Naif Al-Saud in 2023.

Since its launch in 2023, APOA — “injected with strong Saudi DNA” and inspired by culture, architecture, nature and travel — has dropped four eclectic collections, which the cousins call “chapters.”

Fashion Trust Arabia 2024 Award Winners

Evening Wear: Yasmin Mansour

Ready-to-Wear: Nadine Mosallam

Accessories: Reem Hamed

Jewellery: Mashael Khalid Al-Saud, Nourah Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Sarah Naif Al-Saud (APOA)

Franca Sozzani Debut Talent Award: Sylwia Nazzal

Fashion in Tech Award: Batoul Al-Rashdan

Guest Country Spain Award: Xavi Garcia and Franx de Cristal

Topics: Fashion Trust Arabia Fashion Trust Arabia Awards APOA

Italian stars Ludovico Einaudi, Matteo Bocelli to perform at AlUla in January

Italian stars Ludovico Einaudi, Matteo Bocelli to perform at AlUla in January
Updated 30 December 2024
Arab News
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Italian stars Ludovico Einaudi, Matteo Bocelli to perform at AlUla in January

Italian stars Ludovico Einaudi, Matteo Bocelli to perform at AlUla in January
  • The two performances are the latest in the AlUla Moments Concert Series
Updated 30 December 2024
Arab News

ALULA: Two Italian musical stars will perform in Saudi Arabia next month as part of the AlUla Moments Concert Series, it was confirmed on Monday.

Internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi, who will take the stage on Jan. 17, is celebrated for blending classical and contemporary styles during his career which has spanned four decades.

He has previously performed at some of the world’s most iconic venues, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Sydney Opera House.

Einaudi’s compositions have earned him numerous awards and multiple platinum certifications.

A week later, on Jan. 24, the spotlight will shine on Matteo Bocelli, the rising Italian tenor and youngest son of legendary opera star Andrea Bocelli, who will perform as part of his debut headline world tour.

The two performances are the latest in the Concert Series, which have included Bocelli senior in April 2021, John Legend in November 2022 and Alicia Keys in February 2023.

Tickets for both performances are expected to sell quickly, and can be bought at this link.

Topics: Saudi Arabia AlUla AlUla Moments Ludovico Einaudi Matteo Bocelli

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Robbie Williams is here to entertain you with ‘Better Man’

Robbie Williams is here to entertain you with ‘Better Man’
Updated 30 December 2024
Karishma Nandkeolyar
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Robbie Williams is here to entertain you with ‘Better Man’

Robbie Williams is here to entertain you with ‘Better Man’
Updated 30 December 2024
Karishma Nandkeolyar

DUBAI: “I want to be the best entertainer on the planet next year,” British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams said ahead of the UAE premiere of his biographical musical “Better Man” on Sunday.

And he is certainly making inroads on that resolution — fresh off a gig at Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Nights concert series, and before he hits the stage on the Robbie Williams Live 2025 tour across Europe, Williams sat down to discuss the Michael Gracey-directed film in Dubai.

It is a raw look at Williams’ life — his early showbiz years as a part of the Take That crew, his battle with addiction and family issues before settling down.

In the film, helmed by Gracey of “The Greatest Showman” fame, Williams is played by a CGI-generated monkey in an otherwise human cast. It was a creative gamble by the director, who previously said that the decision was inspired by conversations with Williams where he described himself as a performing monkey, according to the BBC.

“Well, I think that I would like to see myself as a lion, but I’m not. I’m cheeky and I’m silly, and I’m irreverent and I’m naughty, and I’m not alpha. I am a monkey. There’s vulnerability in monkeys, in apes, simians; I think they’re more human than humans,” Williams said during a media roundtable attended by Arab News.

In the film, the chimp is played by Jonno Davies, but there is an element of Williams in it. “I was in a cage, and 150 cameras, or something like that, (pointed at) you. And they scanned me, and then I had to do 120 different facial expressions to a bunch of cameras in front of me, and then they took all of that information and overlaid it over Jonno, who plays me so brilliantly, and those are my eyes, and those are my expressions,” he said.

UK 50-year-old pop superstar Robbie Williams says “best thing about fame is that it gives me the chance to be successful.” (Supplied)

While the movie offers a warning of sorts about the pitfalls of fame, the “Let Me Entertain You” singer explained: “I’m addicted to success more than I’m addicted to fame. I excel in showmanship; it’s the rest of everything else I’m not very good at. So, fame gives me the opportunity to be successful, to write a great song, to have it translate into people’s hearts, but to do stadiums, too.

“But this brings with its own problems as well, because, you know, I’ve got so much wrapped up in being Robbie Williams. The best thing about fame is that it gives me the chance to be successful.”

The 50-year-old pop superstar has been candid about his struggles with addiction in the past — he was admitted to a rehabilitation center in the US in 2007 and spoke about his addiction to drugs and alcohol during the 1990s in a four-part Netflix documentary released in 2023.

Topics: Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island UK popstar Robbie Williams

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Fatima Al-Banawi celebrates highlights ahead of January’s Joy Awards in Riyadh

Fatima Al-Banawi celebrates highlights ahead of January’s Joy Awards in Riyadh
Updated 29 December 2024
Arab News
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Fatima Al-Banawi celebrates highlights ahead of January’s Joy Awards in Riyadh

Fatima Al-Banawi celebrates highlights ahead of January’s Joy Awards in Riyadh
Updated 29 December 2024
Arab News

DUBAI: After topping off a stellar 2024 by co-hosting the closing ceremony of the star-studded Red Sea Film Festival in December, Saudi director and actress Fatima Al-Banawi took to Instagram this week to share behind-the-scenes snafus that occurred before the event.

The star, who is nominated in the Best Film Director category at the upcoming Joy Awards in Riyadh, shared a carousel of photos taken during and after the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, including a poignant shot of her grandfather.

“I don’t know where the words came from, but truly behind every grand appearance there are dark nights, dim lights, a sudden illness, and a liver sandwich that drips a sauce on your dress. But what comforts us through all the moments of exhaustion and fatigue are the celebrations that unfold honoring the stories we tell. And above all that, the moment you return home and find your grandfather watching you on the television screen (sic),” she captioned the post.

Al-Banawi made her directorial debut with “Basma” this year and she is nominated for an award at the Joy Awards, set to be held on Jan. 18.

The Best Film Director nominees include Tarek Al-Eryan (“Welad Rizq 3: Elqadia”), Ali Al-Kalthami (“Night Courier”), Fatima Al-Banawi (“Basma”), and Moataz Al-Touni (“Ex Merati”).

“Basma” launched on Netflix in June and Al-Banawi  not only directed the movie, but wrote it (and an original song for the soundtrack) and played the title role — a young Saudi woman who returns home to Jeddah after two years away studying in the States to find that her parents have divorced without telling her after struggling to deal with the mental illness of her father, the well-respected Dr. Adly.

“My undergrad is in psychology. My father’s a psychologist. My sister’s a psychologist. I have psychology and sociology in my DNA,” Al-Banawi told Arab News at the time of the film’s release. “We talk about Sigmund Freud over lunch, you know?”  

And so, when she sat down to write her first feature, it was natural that she would choose mental health as its focus. 

“Dissonance was a word I found when I started working on ‘Basma.’ I wasn’t familiar with this term: to be in a complete state of, not just denial, but not responding in any way — action or awareness — to what (is obvious),” she said. “I felt it around me everywhere; things that were brushed under the carpet for years and years until they piled up and a person or a family could not handle them anymore.”

 

Topics: Fatima Al-Banawi Saudi Arabia

Review: Award-winning ‘Moon’ comes out on top as a tense thriller

Review: Award-winning ‘Moon’ comes out on top as a tense thriller
Updated 29 December 2024
Gautaman Bhaskaran
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Review: Award-winning ‘Moon’ comes out on top as a tense thriller

Review: Award-winning ‘Moon’ comes out on top as a tense thriller
Updated 29 December 2024
Gautaman Bhaskaran

JEDDAH: Iraqi Austrian filmmaker Kurdwin Ayub seems to have found her niche telling stories of women in distress. While her debut fiction feature film, “Sonne,” was awarded the Best First Film Award at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, her latest, “Moon,” sees the director wade into similar territory.

After clinching the special jury prize at the 77th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, it played at the recent Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah — and to me it was one of the event's highlights. 

“Moon” trails Sarah (Florentina Holzinger, who is quite good as a foreigner bewildered by her surroundings), an unhappy martial arts fighter, who having hit the dead end in her career, takes up an assignment with a wealthy Jordanian family whose shady dealings soon make her uneasy. 

Asked to train three sisters after her humiliating defeat in the ring, Sarah grabs the chance, hoping to find a new beginning and earn back her respect. But what awaits her there is beyond her imagination — a household that is run with eerie brutality by the girls' brother in the absence of their parents. Sarah is frightened when things begin to spiral out of her control, and with the sisters' steely defiance toward any sort of regulated life, “Moon” plays out like a thriller and boxes us into a deadly climax.

Ayub specialises in filming the loss of freedom and examines how women struggle circumvent this.  The sisters' trips to the mall seem like one way of tasting freedom — despite the watchful eye of a burly bodyguard — and the audience feels every bit as claustrophobic.

Unfortunately, there are pitfalls in the narrative with some of the protagonist’s actions going unexplained but what keeps the work flowing is the beautiful relationship among the sisters and how they ultimately come to trust their trainer.

Topics: Red Sea International Film Festival 2024

Georgina Rodriguez steals the spotlight at Dubai event

Georgina Rodriguez steals the spotlight at Dubai event
Updated 28 December 2024
Arab News
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Georgina Rodriguez steals the spotlight at Dubai event

Georgina Rodriguez steals the spotlight at Dubai event
Updated 28 December 2024
Arab News

DUBAI: Argentine model Georgina Rodriguez made a head-turning appearance this week at the Globe Soccer Dubai Awards 2024, held as part of the Dubai International Sports Conference 2024.

She attended the event alongside her longtime partner, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was honored with two awards: Best Middle East Player 2024 and All-Time Top Goal Scorer.

Rodriguez turned heads in a fitted black dress featuring a sweetheart neckline and lace-detailed sleeves. She completed her look with black pointed-toe heels and carried a matching black purse.

The couple was joined by Ronaldo’s eldest son, Cristiano Jr., making it a family affair at one of the year’s most celebrated sports events.

Upon accepting the award, Ronaldo, who plays for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr FC, expressed his gratitude on stage, saying: “For me, it is a big pleasure to win this trophy. It is very different than the other ones. It is a pleasure to be in this gala. (There are) a lot of champions here, young generations and old generations.”

He continued: “I have to say thank you to my own family, my kids. They are all here in Dubai. My oldest son is there. My wife is here. She’s my lovely support all the time to carry on to play. In one month I’m gonna be 40 years old but I’m not finished yet. I will continue because I want to win titles, I want to be a champion.”

After the event, Ronaldo shared pictures with his 646 million Instagram followers, captioning the post: “A great way to end the year. Thank you to my teammates, staff, to everyone who has supported me along the way, and especially to my family. There is still more to come.”

The couple were later spotted at Nobu Dubai in Atlantis the Palm, where there was also Brazilian football player Neymar and former Italian footballer Alessandro Del Piero.

Rodriguez and Ronaldo traveled to Dubai following their family vacation in Lapland, Finland, where they celebrated the festive season.

The couple shared glimpses of their activities on Instagram, including an in-house dinner with their children, sledding adventures, ice baths and more, giving fans a peek into their holiday moments.

Topics: Georgina Rodriguez Globe Soccer Dubai Awards

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