Mosaic Rooms collaborates on film programme with Dubai Film Festival

             

19–23 July 2011

The Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, London, SW5 0SW

The Mosaic Rooms will present a selection of award-winning Emirati and Arab films in London this month in collaboration with the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) as part of Shubbak, London’s first-ever celebration of contemporary Arab culture.

Over 5 nights, the Mosaic Rooms will screen a series of new Arab films and shorts from DIFF 2010 and the fourth edition of the Gulf Film Festival, giving audiences in London an insight into evolving Arab cinema and the Arab world through the eyes of its filmmakers. 

The programme will kick off on Tuesday 19 July with Sabeel, the work of Emirati director Kha lid Al Mahmood (which scooped first prize at the fourth Gulf Film Festival) and which will run before Palestinian filmmaker Dahna Abourahme’s documentary/animation The Kingdom of Women. Other films to be shown during the week include Emirati director Nayla Al Khaja’s short Malal (Bored), Mohammed Al Hushki’s Jordanian feature Transit Cities, Palestinian-Netherlands co-productionThis Is My Picture When I was Dead by Mahmoud Al Massad and finally Syrian-Qatari co-production Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise by Soudade Kaadan.

Both Transit Cities and Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise made their world premiere at DIFF 2010; This is My Picture When I Was Dead is one of the many successful projects driven by the Dubai Film Connection, the co-production market of the Dubai International Film Festival.

The Shubbak festival features a wide-range of programmes including visual arts, film, music, theatre, dance, literature, architecture, lectures and discussions themed to the Arab world. Contemporary Arab artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, choreographers and architects based in London and around the world will participate in the event. Other DIFF films featured in the festival include Egyptian drama Microphone, screening on Friday 8 July and two evenings of screenings and debate atIniva (Institute of International Visual Arts).

Rihanna overtakes Gaga to become new Queen of Facebook

Rihanna has toppled Lady Gaga to become the most popular female star on Facebook, according to Famecount.com the social media statistics service. Only one person, Eminem, on 43m fans, stands ahead of the pair.

The achievement marks a spectacular year for Rihanna, who has seen her social media fame explode following the release of Loud last year. In February this year, Rihanna became the fourth artist in history to achieve 1bn YouTube views and is now the third most viewed star on the network with almost 1.4bn views, having overtaken Eminem in May. Last week Rihanna became the 13^th person in history to achieve 6m twitter followers. And just a few days ago, Rihanna achieved the landmark of 40m Facebook fans, marking the occasion by tweeting “40 mil! 1 LOVE ‘RihannaNavy”.

On an aggregated basis, according to Famecount’s rankings, Rihanna is now the third biggest social media star in the world, just behind Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

The question now becomes, can Rihanna make it all the way to the top? Eminem is currently 3m ahead on Facebook, but Rihanna is faster growing on the network, and she remains the fastest growing star in the world on YouTube – thanks to her controversial video “Man Down” which has now racked up more than 40m views. Meanwhile her fame offline continues to build as Rihanna confirmed earlier this week that she will become the new face (and body) of Emporio Armani lingerie.

If she can maintain momentum Famecount may one day be celebrating a new leader in its overall ranking of social media fame. 

Harry Potter Polled

YOUGOV POLL: British Potter fans would be happy with a tall glass of butterbeer after a hard lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts, as final film sees worldwide release.

An owl is the superior enchanted companion, butterbeer is better than chocolate frogs, Gryffindor is by far the best house, Defence Against the Dark Arts clearly the best lesson, summoning charm ‘Accio’ the favourite spell, and the invisibility cloak far and away the best hallow, our poll of around 1,000 British Harry Potter fans has found, as the eighth and final film of JK Rowling’s magical creation is released in cinemas around the world. 

•    32% of Britons have read the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and 56% have seen the film

•    Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the nation’s favourite book and film of the series (15% and 14% respectively), followed in both cases by the Prisoner of Azkaban, with 12% calling the third instalment the series their favourite book of the seven and 9% their favourite of the eight films

•    Nearly two thirds of people (63%) prefer the books to the films, but a quarter (25%) would rather the films than the books

Sweets, treats, owls and spells

•    Butterbeer has proved the most popular Potter treat with 26% of people wanting to try the brew, while magical (and sometimes disgusting) Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were second most popular with 12% 

•    The Hedwig effect? The wizarding pet most people would like to own is an owl, with 33% of the vote, followed by a cat (23%). Rats and newts proved unpopular with just 1% apiece

•    The need to defend yourself seem high among Brits; 16% selected Defence Against the Dark Arts as the Hogwarts class they’d most like to take, while Potions and Transfiguration were also popular with 14% apiece

•    Given the chance, 48% of people would follow Harry into the house of Gryffindor, though a potentially malevolent 5% would select rival house Slytherin  

•    Laziness? The favourite spell among British muggles is the summoning charm ‘Accio’, with 12% choosing this, followed by levitating spell ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ with 9%. Thankfully, the Unforgivable Curse that instantly kills its victims, ‘Avada Kedavra’, was just 1% of people’s favourite spell

Hallows

•    Of the three hallows that our hero Harry tries to track down in his bid to finally vanquish Voldemort, 56% of people would like to own the invisibility cloak, 17% would prefer the Elder Wand and 9% selected the Resurrection Stone

The poll comes as the final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, is released in cinemas this week. The premiere in London’s Trafalgar Square drew an army of loyal fans, some of whom camped out for up to 6 days in a bid to get a glimpse of the films’ famous stars. Many fans have grown up alongside the boy wizard, devouring each instalment with growing fervour as they follow Harry’s progress from tentative introduction to magic (‘You’re a wizard, Harry!’) to the final quest to locate the seven Horcruxes and rid the world of his evil nemesis Lord Voldemort.

The Harry Potter franchise has become a global phenomenon in the years since the release of the first, and according to our poll, most popular, book back in 1997. The first film starring Daniel Radcliffe as the famous boy wizard Harry Potter was released in 2001 while last week’s final premiere saw an emotional London red carpet, as fans and stars alike talked of ‘an end to their childhood’. The story may be over, but as our poll shows, the passion for the story lives on.