In Elio, a boy is transported to a utopia in the middle of the galaxy. It’s called the Communiverse, a place where aliens from across the stars joyously share the secrets of the universe. For young Elio, it’s a dream come true.
Yonas Ascuncion Kibreab, the 14-year-old Filipino-Eritrean American actor who plays the title role, once had a moment like that, too. It was the day he went to Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California.
Kibreab tells The National: “That campus is so magical. Being there, it’s almost like you’re living in a Pixar movie. All the people there are so cool and creative – I’m just so grateful I got to go there.”
While he’s now one of the handful of child actors to ever lead a Pixar movie, he never thought it possible he’d get there. Growing up, he wanted to be a professional tennis player – though he did watch the film Up over and over, crying each time.
“I started playing tennis when I was around three, and I played until I was 12. But I loved it so much that I would make funny tennis-related videos,” says Kibreab.
The US Tennis Association saw his work, inviting him to the US Open in New York to interview the top tennis players.
“I was like, ‘oh heck yeah’. That was the dream. But my parents saw me doing the interviews, and they thought, ‘I think he could be a good actor’. So I got an agent, did a commercial audition, and now I’m here,” Kibreab says.
In the character of Elio, who his Armenian-American co-director Madeline Sharafian describes as “the world's weirdest kid”, Kibreab related most to his active imagination, outgoing personality, and the fact that he doesn’t care what people think. “I think that’s his superpower. It was never hard to go into Elio’s character, because he’s like me in a lot of ways.”
When Kibreab auditioned for the role, he didn’t have the script, which he found thrilling. “It was the coolest thing. I could imagine what this movie was – what my character looked like. And all the aliens and the amazing universe that Pixar’s animators had created. It was so special because it’s something no one had ever seen before,” he continues.
In the three years that he played Elio, from the age of 11 until 14, he bonded with his character to the point that, to play the most emotional scenes, he didn’t have to think of any sad moments in his own life.
“It was Elio who really helped me. I just had to think of Elio’s story. There were so many deep things for me. When he’s crying in the story, honestly, just that itself made me cry,” says Kibreab.
In the film, however, Kibreab actually plays two characters – both Elio, and the AI clone of Elio made by the ship’s computer in the Communiverse. The clone travels back to Earth and takes his place, living with his aunt and pretending to be him.
“I feel like other Elio is a little bit creepier,” says Kibreab. “The directors were like, ‘have you seen any horror movies?' I'm like, Yeah, I have!’ So they told me, ‘just try to do your creepiest voice.'”
The young actor got so into the role, that he suggested to the directors that they record both characters at the same time, with him switching back and forth between playing both versions without a break.
“They're like, wow, that's a cool idea. Let's try it,” says Kibreab.
In the years that he recorded for the role, Kibreab started to grow up behind the scenes – so fast he hardly noticed until he went to the film’s premiere. When he looked up at the screen, he remembered how different Elio was when he auditioned for him – how unsure of himself he was. But the character in the finished product is different – a reflection of the young man he’s becoming.
“He has more confidence now than he did. When I watched the movie, I kind of teared up a little bit, because I really felt how Elio is feeling,” says Kibreab.
Elio is in cinemas now across the Middle East
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
More on Quran memorisation:
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
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Fund-raising tips for start-ups
Develop an innovative business concept
Have the ability to differentiate yourself from competitors
Put in place a business continuity plan after Covid-19
Prepare for the worst-case scenario (further lockdowns, long wait for a vaccine, etc.)
Have enough cash to stay afloat for the next 12 to 18 months
Be creative and innovative to reduce expenses
Be prepared to use Covid-19 as an opportunity for your business
* Tips from Jassim Al Marzooqi and Walid Hanna
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Borussia Dortmund, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Specs
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Price: Dh169,900
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
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The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
