When it premieres across the world and in Dubai on Friday night, The Owner is set to break a world record for the most directors working on a single film.
Created by 25 directors from more than 10 countries on five continents, the film follows an old backpack that is passed between the characters on its journey around the world.
Along the way, details are revealed about a mysterious man named Mr MacGuffin, who may own the bag. Each filmmaker wrote, shot and directed their respective segments, in countries including Germany, Hong Kong, Colombia, India, England, South Africa and the UAE.
Fahad Shaikh - a car salesman by day and filmmaker by night - wrote and shot the Dubai leg of the film.
"Films are my passion and they've always been something that I wanted to do," he says. "I have to keep my passion alive and so I have to keep doing this stuff on the side as much as I can."
The directors have been working on the film, organised by the US-based international co-production film group CollabFeature, since 2010. Although Shaikh shot his segment in one 13-hour day, collaborating with people around the world proved time-consuming. The scriptwriting alone took six to seven months.
"None of us knew each other or had met each other … and everybody has a full-time job, plus everything was done online," he says. "So it was not easy to collaborate online when you don't know each other and you have a full-time job on the side."
The directors used an online portal to communicate about each of their parts and the project's progress.
Shaikh will be working on more projects in the future, focusing on documentaries, arts and independent films.
There will be a free screening of The Owner on Friday, starting at 7.25pm, at The Pavilion, Downtown Burj Khalifa
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T20 WORLD CUP
2024: US and West Indies; 2026: India and Sri Lanka; 2028: Australia and New Zealand; 2030: England, Ireland and Scotland
ODI WORLD CUP
2027: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia; 2031: India and
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2025: Pakistan; 2029: India
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Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
