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E. Nina Rothe

Film. Fashion. Life.
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The Diaries, because sometimes life needs more. 

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFA view of Madinat Jumeirah on the opening night of the 14th Dubai International Film Festival

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

A view of Madinat Jumeirah on the opening night of the 14th Dubai International Film Festival

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Couldn’t Have Done It Without You, Madinat Jumeirah!

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

Anyone who has ever had to travel for work knows, deeply and personally, how important a hotel room can be. 

For me, while I spent eight nights and nine days at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival, the Mina A’Salam hotel, in Madinat Jumeirah provided a home away from home, the perfect place to get away from it all and write, not to mention my very own soft place to fall. All rolled up into the perfectly glamorous package of a luxury 5-star plus hotel.

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In Cinema, Fashion, Festival, The Diaries Tags Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai, DIFF17, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Hotels, Mina A'Salam, Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Al Qasr, Al Naseem, Il Borro, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tuscan food, cinema, Arab cinema, Middle East, UAE, Florence, Talise Spa, Bushra, Mattar Bin Lahej, turtle sanctuary, Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project, Souchy'Z, Mirzam, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
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PHOTO COURTESY OF DISNEYAdam Driver as Kylo Ren

PHOTO COURTESY OF DISNEY

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and Why It Is a Fashionista’s Dream Come True

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

I wasn’t a huge fan of the last installment of ‘Star Wars’ titled ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, which closed the Dubai International Film Festival in 2016. I found the chemistry between Felicity Jones and Diego Luna like a couple of fingernails dragging on a blackboard. When they were — **spoiler alert!** — done away with, I was actually kind of happy. And that’s not how you should feel about intergalactic heroes, am I right?

Fast forward one year and I found inspiration and fun in another chapters of the ‘Star Wars’ saga which has been going on since I was a child!

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In Cinema, Fashion, Festival, The Diaries Tags Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, fashionista, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Kylo Ren, Disney, Middle East, UAE, Rian Johnson, May the Force be with you, Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Peter Cushing, General Leia Organa, Daisy Ridley, Laura Dern, Kelly Marie Tran, Lupita Nyong'o, Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker, Porgs, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin, Zero Gravity
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFBushra on the DIFF red carpet

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

Bushra on the DIFF red carpet

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Superstar Bushra, Costume Diva Alexandra Byrne and the Power of Great Women

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

We need more women film writers. Repeat after me. We need more women film writers and when they are published, those few random times, we need to support them.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries, Fashion Tags Bushra, Dubai, Egypt, Egyptian cinema, Arab Cinema, Alexandra Byrne, DIFF17, Dubai International Film Festival, Cairo 678, Arabwood, Bollywood, Hollywood, Golden Globes, El Gouna Film Festival, Al Qasr, Jumeirah, Mohamed Diab, Swarovski, BAFTA, The Avengers, Masters of the Galaxy, Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Shekhar Kapur, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Oscar winner
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PHOTO BY VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF“In Conversation with Morgan Spurlock” at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival

PHOTO BY VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

“In Conversation with Morgan Spurlock” at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Swarovski, Morgan Spurlock, ‘The Man Behind the Microphone’ and Cinemas in Saudi by 2018

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

What is heritage and how important is our connection to the past in shaping who we will be in the future? And if our ideals seem to clash with what our leaders are encouraging, or we simply can see beyond the chaos — are we right? Or does that make us just different... Those are all questions that have come up in the last 48 hours for me, at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries, Fashion Tags Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Swarovski, Morgan Spurlock, The Man Behind the Microphone, heritage, Madinat Jumeirah, Grace Jones, Philip Treacy, Marilyn, Michael Jackson, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey Hepburn, Alexandra Byrne, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Rats, One Direction: This is Us, USA, Big Chicken, Saudi Arabia, cinemas in Saudi, Arab cinema, UAE, VOX, AMC, Claire Belhassine, Hédi Jouini
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The Dubai Opera

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Sir Patrick Stewart, ‘Sharp Tools’ and ‘Harry Potter’ at the Opera

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

This place never ceases to surprise me. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, has stated that he wishes the Emirate to become an open air art gallery by the time it will host Expo 2020. And in fact, at every corner during my stay here for the Dubai International Film Festival, I’ve experience art, beauty and film.

I mean, where else in the world can you sit listening to Sir Patrick Stewart talk film and life, watch a cool cultural Emirati film like ‘Sharp Tools’ by Nujoom Al Ghanem and then walk over to a turtle sanctuary just behind your hotel, at Jumeirah Al Naseem all in one day? If you said Dubai, you got it.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags Sir Patrick Stewart, Dubai Opera, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Harry Potter, Sharp Tools, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Expo 2020, Nujoom Al Ghanem, turtle sanctuary, Jumeirah Al Naseem, Quentin Tarantino, Shakespeare, Henry V, Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, Hassan Sharif, art, cinema, arab cinema, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Potterheads
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Rob Reiner’s ‘Shock & Awe’, Claes Bang, Q’orianka Kilcher and Working Through the Madness

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

When the whole Hollywood sexual predator news broke back in October, I received a message from a colleague I’m connected with on Facebook. He pointed to the fact that as a woman, in light of the recent revelations, I would now find it much “impossible” to get one-on-ones with male stars and directors. The statement hit me and I felt an immediate pang of anxiety. I mean, my job as a woman, a blogger, someone who holds on to her personal opinions and is proud of going against the current if need be is already pretty difficult as it is. To add to that burden — because lets face it, even when diversity and/or equality are celebrated and demanded in the arts, it never really manages to trickle down to the media side of things — would only make my work impossible.

But DIFF has proven my colleague wrong, of course. I’ve never had more access, and more professional intimacy than what I’ve experienced here so far. I mean, the kind of face to face talks that mean so much to a writer, because in the end, you know they will help the pieces write themselves. The kind of great human connections that we all strive to create, across cultures, with different personalities and among our fellow humans.

What’s that saying DIFF? “Film Will Find You”? Yes, it always does, and helps me to discover the way back.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags DIFF17, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, Jumeirah, Madinat Jumeirah, Mina A'Salam, Claes Bang, Ruben Östlund, Best Foreign Language Oscar, The Square, Sweden, Shock and Awe, Rob Reiner, Woody Harrelson, Jonathan Landay, Iraq, Warren Strobel, Michael Marsden, fake news, NY Times, Washington Post, Q’Orianka Kilcher, Find Will Find You
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFSir Patrick Stewart and HE Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

Sir Patrick Stewart and HE Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Cate Blanchett, Sir Patrick Stewart, Irrfan Khan and ‘Hostiles’ Kick Off the 14th Edition of DIFF

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

Lets face it, it’s a frightening time to be alive. If a certain North Korean dictator doesn’t nuke us into oblivion first, maybe the recent decision regarding the status of Jerusalem by our President might just turn the wraths of the entire Muslim world population upon us. Admit it, you’re beginning to think this way, even if just a little bit...

And yet, here I am in the midst of the Arab world and film, the power of great cinema is helping me to get a grip on what it’s really like, once we step away from the frenzy of inflated CNN headlines and the anger that these days appears to be the sole motivation for so much around us. Because when we dig deep into our collective hearts, we all feel the same way, and if poked, we all bleed the same color blood. 

Even Shakespeare knew that to be true, more than five hundred years ago.

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In The Diaries, Festival, Cinema Tags Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Cate Blanchett, Sir Patrick Stewart, Irrfan Khan, Arab cinema, Middle East, Dubai, Shakespeare, Q’Orianka Kilcher, Hostiles, Scott Cooper, Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Giorgio Armani, Mohammed Saeed Harib, Emirates, UAE, VR, Film will find you, Rocky, The Wizard of Oz, The Italian Job, Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Gulf, HE Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Abdulhamid Juma, Wahid Hamed
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PHOTO BY FRANÇOIS DUHAMEL, COURTESY OF VICEJim Carrey in a still from ‘Man on the Moon’

PHOTO BY FRANÇOIS DUHAMEL, COURTESY OF VICE

Jim Carrey in a still from ‘Man on the Moon’

The Venice Film Festival Diaries: ‘mother!’, ‘Loving Pablo’ Escobar and Jim Carrey Made Me Cry

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

Every meeting at this year’s Venice Film Festival has been a once-in-a-lifetime chance encounter for me. From chatting with the fabulous James Toback, to meeting his visionary producer Michael Mailer, from the relaxed junket on San Clemente island with Kirsten Dunst and the Rodarte sisters to sitting leisurely with artist Shirin Neshat at Villa degli Autori, from the wisdom of Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel to the Zen discipline and class of Maestro Ryuichi Sakamoto — it’s all been divine. There is no other word to describe it.

And yet, on the seventh day of the festival, another surprise awaited me. A cozy, wonderful junket with Jim Carrey and director Chris Smith, who together made a film that has quickly risen to my top five — alright top three actually — in Venice. 

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags mother!, Darren Aronofsky, Jim & Andy the Great Beyond, Netflix, Loving Pablo, Jim Carrey, Venice Film Festival, Venice, La Biennale di Venezia, James Toback, San Clemente Island, Michael Mailer, Chris Smith, Vice, Andy Kaufman, Man on the Moon, REM, Milos Forman, Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Penelope Cruz, Virginia Vallejo, Pablo Escobar, Peter Sarsgaard, DEA, Medellin cartel
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COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL AND NETFLIXPeter Sarsgaard in a still from Errol Morris’ ‘Wormwood’

COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL AND NETFLIX

Peter Sarsgaard in a still from Errol Morris’ ‘Wormwood’

The Venice Film Festival Diaries: Warwick Thornton’s ‘Sweet Country’ and Better than Fiction with ‘Cuba’ and ‘Wormwood’

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

On one of the English language news channels this morning, they were talking about this new film ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ which is making a big splash — or shall I say “flush” — in India at the moment. It’s a love story shot around the absolute, undeniably dire need for better plumbing facilities in the Desh. “This is one instance where perhaps a movie has been able to change policies,” said one anchor. Duh, I thought. Cinema has been changing the way we think, act and feel since its inception. It’s just that we don’t often think about it, because the kind of films which usually change us, for better or for worse, are those that entertain us without apparently teaching us anything. But the power of their subliminal messages is there, always, on the big screen, your TV and even your mobile screen.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags Venice Film Festival, Warwick Thornton, Sweet Coutry, Cuba and the Cameraman, Wormwood, La Biennale di Venezia, Cinema, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Australian Indigenous cinema, Peter Sarsgaard, Errol Morris, CIA, Dr. Frank Olson, Loving Pablo, Jon Alpert, Netflix, Fidel Castro, Cuba, Ewen Leslie, Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, Hamilton Morris, Albergo Quattro Fontane, Jim Carrey, Venice
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COURTESY OF VENICE DAYSA still from Shirin Neshat’s ‘Looking for Oum Kulthum’ featuring Yasmin Raeis

COURTESY OF VENICE DAYS

A still from Shirin Neshat’s ‘Looking for Oum Kulthum’ featuring Yasmin Raeis

The Venice Film Festival Diaries: ‘Looking for Oum Kulthum’, ‘Woodshock’ and a ‘Coda’ That Isn’t the End

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

If you think that in order to feature strong women a film festival only has to pay attention to the male to female ratio of filmmakers in their Competition section, think again. At this year’s Venice Film Festival, powerful, interesting, revolutionary women roles, filmmakers and icons have been everywhere. You just have to know how to look. And maybe you won’t always find them in the director’s chair, which is alright by me. But in the case of the first two films I’ll talk about here, they happened to be both in front of and behind the camera.

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In The Diaries, Cinema, Festival Tags Looking for Oum Kulthum, Woodshock, Shirin Neshat, Yasmin Raeis, Venice Film Festival, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice Days, Oum Kulthum, Egypt, Iran, Women Without Men, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Laura and Kate Mulleavy, Rodarte, Kirsten Dunst, Pilou Asbæk, California Redwoods, Stephen Nomura Schible, Japan
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COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVALSienna Miller in a still from James Toback’s ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’

COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Sienna Miller in a still from James Toback’s ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’

The Venice Film Festival Diaries: ‘Suburra’ from Netflix, James Toback’s Latest Work and Why, Oh Why George Clooney?

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

It is a thin line that filmmakers walk every time they make a film, that invisible border which separates cinema the audience wants to watch from the work they really wish to make. Sometimes, as in the latest film from American auteur James Toback premiering at the Venice Film Festival, they balance perfectly on that tightrope and create a watchable masterpiece like ‘The Private Life of a Modern Woman’ which is also critically acclaimed and emanates important subliminal messages for days after viewing it. Other times, for example with George Clooney’s ‘Suburbicon’ well, they miss, tumbling onto the safety net of their celebrity-dom which allows fans of their work to oh and ah, regardless of how valid their product really is. 

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In The Diaries, Cinema, Festival Tags Suburra, Netflix, James Toback, The Private Life of a Modern Woman, Sienna Miller, Venice Film Festival, La Biennale di Venezia, Cinema, Cattleya, Rai Fiction, Suburbicon, George Clooney, Alessandro Borghi, Claudia Gerini, Francesco Acquaroli, Michele Placido, Barbara Petronio, Riccardo Tozzi, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Carlo Bonini, Vatican, Gypsy mafia, Ostia, Alec Baldwin, Charles Grodin, Carl Icahn, Julianne Moore
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COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVALA still from Lucrecia Martel’s ‘Zama’

COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

A still from Lucrecia Martel’s ‘Zama’

The Venice Film Festival Diaries: ‘The Shape of Water’, the Wonder of Netflix and Lucrecia Martel’s ‘Zama’

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

While my first 36 hours at the Venice Film Festival were filled with impossible sunshine and balmy heat, with the morning’s thunderstorms came both barometric relief but also some much needed introspection. I found myself in a deep, thoughtful place thanks to a beautiful meeting with Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel and a morning screening of Netflix’s ‘Our Souls at Night’.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags The Shape of Water, Venice Film Festival, Lucrecia Martel, Zama, Netflix, Our Souls at Night, Guillermo del Toro, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Doug Jones, Pasolini, The Headless Woman, Argentina, cinema, films, Suburra, Wormwood, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Peter Sarsgaard, Errol Morris, Rome, Ritesh Batra, Kent Haruf, Willie Nelson, Highwaymen
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COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVALTrine Dyrholm in a still from ‘Nico 1988’

COURTESY OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Trine Dyrholm in a still from ‘Nico 1988’

The Venice Film Festival Diaries: Kicking Off Big with ‘Downsizing’ and ‘Nico 1988’

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2018

Just when I think I have the Venice Film Festival figured out, La Biennale goes and changes the game on us! Instead of a grand spectacle like ‘Birdman’, ‘Everest’ or ‘La La Land’ — the three films that opened the past editions of the oldest film festival in the world, for this year’s 74th edition Artistic Director Alberto Barbera did a bit of ‘Downsizing’ — Alexander Payne’s ‘Downsizing’ that is, starring Matt Damon. 

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In The Diaries, Cinema, Festival Tags Matt Damon, Downsizing, Nico 1988, Nico, Trine Dyrholm, Big in Japan, My Heart is Empty, These Days, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Venice Film Festival, La Biennale di Venezia, John Gordon Sinclair, Christoph Waltz, Kristen Wiig, Neil Patrick Harris, Laura Dern, Hong Chau, Alexander Payne, Alberto Barbera
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