Some months in Tempo all we breathe and eat is art and creativity – and April is exactly such a month!
Over the next few weeks we have a cool lineup of events that are a treat for storytellers and filmmakers. This month sees the completion of The Smovies 4th Season themed “I Have a Dream,” which will crown the winner of the current short film competition. The platform, which is supported by VOX Cinemas, the New York Film Academy and the US Embassy, will award the winner the opportunity to showcase his or her 1 minute short film across VOX Cinemas, and to attend a film scholarship at NYFA in New York. How cool is that?
Another creative competition that comes to a close this month is the Short Story Competition that BrandMoxie is organizing in collaboration with New York University – with support from Tempo. The competition, which invites short stories from university students, will culminate with a storytelling circle where authors will read their tales to an intimate audience. This will be a unique sharing experience that pays homage to the great Arabian ‘hakawati’ tradition.
A personal triumph for me, still on the subject of film, is the screening of “The Journey” which is a short film I wrote and produced in 2012 with the help of funding from the Abu Dhabi Film Commission. The film has been touring the film festival circuit for the past few years but is now being released for public viewing on You Tube. Read about it on page 22.
Many of Tempo events are community focused and open to the public. If you’re interested in being on our mailing list of competitions and events on art, business, culture etc, just drop us an email with your details and we’ll loop you in.
In this issue of Tempo you will see a celebration of talent, from filmmaker Philip Rachid, to Emirati career woman Afra Al Marar, to budding writer S. Raiyyan, all the way to groundbreaker Dr Eva Tischer. And as always we have the tasty vignettes by our pool of amazing contributors…as well as the debut of a column on happiness, by the ebullient happiness champion Denise Schnitzer.
In our tradition of shaping positive change we focus in this issue on a subject that is very dear to the hearts of our team and of many of our readers. This is the need for us to adopt and promote more responsible practices in the consumption of food. The story, on page 26, focuses on the global destruction of resources, both economic and ecological, by food wastage. We urge our readers to become educated about this important issue and to be proactive in sharing this information with family and friends.
Remember, Tempo is about the issues and stories that are meaningful to you. We would love to hear from you about your projects, your concerns and your aspirations. You can write to me personally in the email below and connect with us via our website www.feelyourtempo.com and through our social media channels.
Be kind, caring and giving.
– Sana Bagersh
Managing Editor, Tempo
