Georgina Rodriguez jets to Paris for Messika show

Georgina Rodriguez wore an off-the-shoulder, form-fitting silver dress with a metallic finish. (Getty Images)
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Updated 27 September 2024
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Georgina Rodriguez jets to Paris for Messika show

DUBAI: Saudi-based Argentine model Georgina Rodriguez jetted to Paris this week to attend the Messika show at the city’s fashion week.

She wore an off-the-shoulder, form-fitting silver dress with a metallic finish and slight draping at the bust, complementing her look with silver pointed-toe heels, a glitzy diamond necklace and matching earrings.




Deema Al Asadi, Myriem Boukadida and Veronica Ferraro attended the Messika Paris Womenswear Spring-Summer 2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week. (Getty Images)

A host of other A-list celebrities attended the event, including Cardi B, Kelly Rutherford, Nina Dobrev, Cole Sprouse, Natalia Vodianova and Lucien Laviscount, alongside Arab luminaries including Emirati Yemeni singer Balqees Fathi, Egyptian actress Ghada Abdel Razik and Iraqi fashion influencer Deema Al-Asadi.




Emirati Yemeni singer Balqees Fathi was also in attendance. (Getty Images)

Also present was Tunisian model and actress Myriem Boukadida, who caught attention posing in a dark green oversized blazer featuring a plunging neckline, layered over a matching top and a flowy, sheer, calf-length skirt. Boukadida completed her ensemble with beige high-heeled shoes and subtle bracelets and earrings.




Moroccan Italian model Malika El-Maslouhi walked the runway. (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Moroccan Italian model Malika El-Maslouhi walked the runway, donning a black outfit and accessorizing with a wide-brimmed hat, multiple layered necklaces featuring diamonds and turquoise, and matching statement earrings and rings.


Key reflections as Jeddah’s Islamic Arts Biennale comes to a close

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Key reflections as Jeddah’s Islamic Arts Biennale comes to a close

JEDDAH: As the second Islamic Arts Biennale prepares for its finale on May 25, Donya Abdulhadi, the executive director of marketing and communications at the Diriyah Biennale Foundation says its true achievement lies not only in visitor numbers, but in the cultural and educational legacy it continues to build.

“The Islamic Arts Biennale was ranked as one of the most highly visited biennales in 2023, but it is the cultural impact, influence and legacy of our work that matters the most to us,” she told Arab News
 The foundation — which oversees the Islamic Arts Biennale, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, and JAX District — alternates annually between its two flagship biennales: the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, held in Riyadh’s JAX District, and the Islamic Arts Biennale, staged at the Western Hajj Terminal in Jeddah.
 
Launched in 2023, the Islamic Arts Biennale is the first biennale in the world dedicated to Islamic arts.
 
The debut Islamic Arts Biennale welcomed over 600,000 visitors, while the second edition of the Contemporary Art Biennale saw more than double the attendance of its first iteration and a 600 percent increase in digital engagement, according to organizers. 
 
Abdulhadi explained that the foundation measures success through cultural impact. “We assess our impact through several factors, including our success in nurturing creative expression and lifelong learning,” she said.
 
The foundation has seen a significant rise in institutional collaboration, too. Since the launch of its biennales, the number of partner institutions lending cultural and historical works has tripled. In turn, the number of total loans to exhibitions has nearly doubled.
 
Among the highlights of this iteration was the unprecedented display of rare objects such as items from the Vatican Apostolic Libraries shown alongside the Kiswah, the covering that adorns the Kaaba in Makkah. 
 
Between editions, the foundation remains active through initiatives such as “PlayBack,” a digital audio archive of past programming, and “PaperBack,” Saudi Arabia’s first art book fair, which welcomed more than 10,000 visitors last year. 
 
“Supporting generations of artists and creatives remains one of the most important ways in which we deliver cultural impact as a foundation,” she continued. “Our Biennales and the JAX District act as springboards for Saudi and international artists to be invited to the world’s most prestigious stages, but also as platforms for artists to evolve their own roles as creatives,” she concluded.


Saudi Fashion Awards set for May 22 in Riyadh

Updated 19 May 2025
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Saudi Fashion Awards set for May 22 in Riyadh

DUBAI: The Saudi Fashion Commission is set to host the second edition of the Saudi Fashion Awards on May 22 in Riyadh.

The ceremony will celebrate the “visionaries, creatives, and entrepreneurs shaping Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing influence in the international fashion and beauty industries,” according to a released statement. 

Key awards this year include the Fashion Stylist of the Year  prize; the Fashion Photographer of the Year prize, presented in collaboration with Hia Magazine; the Menswear Brand of the Year trophy; the Womenswear Brand of the Year prize; the Jewelry Brand of the Year award; and the Elite Model Honorary Award for Model of the Year.

The judging panel includes Hollywood stylist Law Roach; Amanda Smith, CEO of Fairchild Media Group and WWD; Burak Çakmak, CEO of the Saudi Fashion Commission; Xavier Romatet, Dean of Institut Français de la Mode ; Mohammed Aldabbageh, KSA Managing Director of Chalhoub Group; and Mai Badr, Editor-in-Chief of Hia Magazine. 

“Riyadh is proudly emerging as the capital of fashion, beauty, and the future of the creative industries in the region. Its transformation from promise to global presence on red carpets, runways, and retail spaces reflects the ingenuity and dedication of a new generation of trailblazers redefining regional and international fashion standards,” Çakmak said in a released statement.


Angelina Jolie remembers Fatima Hassouna at Cannes

Updated 19 May 2025
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Angelina Jolie remembers Fatima Hassouna at Cannes

DUBAI: US actress and Oscar winner Angelina Jolie made a special appearance at the Cannes Film Festival to present the Trophee Chopard to rising stars Marie Colomb and Finn Bennett.

During the dinner ceremony, Jolie reflected on the power of international cinema to make an impact in times of global turmoil.

“I love international cinema,” Jolie told the star-studded assembly of guests. “We are brought to other lands, into private moments, even on the battlefield, we connect and we empathize … anything that is possible to make international cinema more accessible is necessary and welcome.”

“And none of us are naive,” Jolie continued. “We know that many artists around the world lack the freedom and security to tell their stories, and many have lost their lives like Fatima Hassouna, killed in Gaza, Shaden Gardood killed in Sudan, and Victoria Amelina killed in Ukraine, and so many other extraordinary artists who should be with us now. We owe all of those risking their lives and sharing their stories and experiences a debt of gratitude, because they have helped us to learn and to evolve.”


Stars on hand at Women in Motion dinner in Cannes

Updated 19 May 2025
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Stars on hand at Women in Motion dinner in Cannes

DUBAI/ CANNES: British actress Jameela Jamil and chairwoman of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation Jomana Al-Rashid were on hand as Australian star Nicole Kidman vowed to keep pushing for gender equality in cinema at an exclusive party on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival in France on Sunday.

“I’m just an advocate and want to continue to keep moving forward with that, with my pledge from 2017, so it ain’t over,” said the Oscar-winning actor at the Women in Motion dinner at Cannes, part of a program set up by luxury group Kering in 2015.

Nicole Kidman vowed to keep pushing for gender equality in cinema. (Getty Images)

The event took place after Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation partnered with Kering to co-host a conversation with four of the Saudi organization’s “Women in Cinema” honorees —Amina Khalil, Gaya Jiji, Rungano Nyoni and Sarah Taibah on May 16.

Kidman, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in “The Hours” in 2002, has worked with many of the leading male directors of her generation, but she pledged in 2017 to shoot with a female director every 18 months.

She told journalists in the French Riviera resort town earlier on Sunday that in the eight years since, she’s worked with 27 female directors, including projects in development.

“Part of it is protecting and surrounding the women with almost like a force field of protection and support,” she said.

Other stars at the dinner included Dakota Johnson and Julianne Moore as well as Patrick Schwarzenegger of “The White Lotus.” Director Guillermo del Toro was also in attendance.

Brazilian director Marianna Brennand received the initiative’s emerging talent award, which includes a grant of $55,920 to work on a second feature project.

According to Women in Motion organisers, the share of women directors increased to only 13.6% from 7.5% among the top 100 box office films in the United States between 2015 and 2024.

Seven out of the 22 films in competition this year were made by women, including an entry from Julia Ducournau, one of only three women to have ever won the Palme d’Or top prize.


‘What if this were me?’: Pakistani-Dutch filmmaker amplifies Afghan voices challenging refugee stereotypes

Updated 19 May 2025
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‘What if this were me?’: Pakistani-Dutch filmmaker amplifies Afghan voices challenging refugee stereotypes

  • Anya Raza’s ‘On the Mountain’ captures the dilemma of an Afghan woman teacher, who is caught between love, family and unforgiving realities of the conflict
  • The filmmaker urges Pakistan to reconsider its decision to expel Afghan refugees, saying ‘it is very important that they have their basic human rights and dignity’

ISLAMABAD: Anya Raza was in Washington and watched with the whole world in disbelief as the Afghan capital of Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, marking an end to two decades of United States-led intervention.

The chaos that unfolded moved the Pakistani-Dutch writer and filmmaker to reach out to the Afghans, who desperately sought to relocate to safety, as well as humanitarian and other workers involved in the process.

Their tales of love, loss, devastation and despair compelled Raza to document these heart-wrenching stories to humanize the Afghan refugee crisis for the world, which largely seemed to be indifferent to the chaos.

Her film, ‘On the Mountain,’ based on true stories Raza encountered during the interviews, challenges stereotypes and offers a deeply human perspective on the plight of Afghan refugees, according to the filmmaker.

“I interviewed a lot of refugees, people working with refugees, humanitarian workers, case workers, resettlement officers, and others involved. Time and again, I was struck by the sheer devastation, loss, and the immense decisions people had to make just to keep uprooting their families, to keep them safe,” Raza told Arab News, on the sidelines of the Women International Film Festival in Islamabad last week.

“After 20 years of war, the voices of Afghan people weren’t reaching the international stage, despite all the sacrifices they made, despite the destruction. It felt like a way for me to lend my voice as an artist, to break some of the silos.”

The 13-minute film captures the dilemma of an Afghan woman teacher who is caught between love, family and the unforgiving realities of the conflict, forced to make heartbreaking choices.

Set against the backdrop of a turbulent Kabul in 2021, Raza says the film is both a “social and political statement” that challenges stereotypes and biases relating to refugees and offers audiences a chance to reflect on the human characters behind headlines.

“There are a lot of prejudices, biases, and stereotypes when it comes to refugees — their role in communities, how they are perceived,” she said.

“This film is an invitation into an Afghan home, into the love and tough decisions that a family must make. It lets viewers ask, ‘What if this were me?’“

But for Raza, whose work has sparked discussions around identity, nationality and human rights, bringing the film to life was not without challenges.

“For artists, it’s always difficult to secure funding for projects. You might find money, but it’s harder to find people who align with your values,” she said.

The film continues to connect with audiences around the world and evokes powerful emotions and reflections from the attendees at the Islamabad festival.

But despite the effort, the reality has drastically changed for many Afghan refugees since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan and thousands of them fled to Pakistan to seek refuge there, according to the filmmaker.

Today, those same refugees face forced repatriation and are being driven back to the uncertainty they once escaped.

“It breaks my heart to see Afghans who have lived here their whole lives, who felt that Pakistan was their home, [are] now being forced to leave without any of their belongings,” Raza said.

Pakistan has repatriated approximately 1.3 million Afghan refugees in a deportation drive launched since Nov. 2023, according to officials. The drive was launched after Islamabad witnessed a surge in suicide attacks and militancy that it blamed on Afghan nationals, without providing evidence.

The government in Islamabad initially said it was focusing on expelling foreigners with no legal documentation and other categories, such as Afghan Citizen Card (ACC)-- a document launched in 2017 to grant temporary legal status to Afghan refugees— would be included later. This year, Pakistan’s interior ministry asked all ACC holders to leave the country by March and started deporting them from April 1.

In total, Pakistan has hosted over 2.8 million Afghan refugees who crossed the border during 40 years of conflict in their homeland.

Raza urged Islamabad to reconsider its decision to expel Afghan refugees: “It’s very important that they have their basic human rights, their dignity, that they’re safe.”