Empire Entertainment celebrated the UAE release of the movie, Where the Crawdads Sing, with a performance and a panel discussion.
To carry this out, Empire Entertainment, the exclusive theatrical distributor of rights for Sony Pictures, Fox Star India and Sony Pictures India in the Middle East collaborated with Reel Cinemas and communications agency Comco MEA.
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Based on a book by the same name which was written by Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing, follows the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina in the 1950s. For years, rumours of “Marsh Girl” haunt Barkley Cove, isolating Kya from her community. Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one boy is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect.
Songstress and entrepreneur Layla Kardan, who before the start of the movie, gave a soulful rendition of the Taylor Swift song, Carolina. Carolina is an orginal song written by Swift and it inspired by Swift’s reading and connection to the book.
After the end of the movie – the panel, hosted and conceptualised by Reel Cinemas and communications agency Comco MEA, took place within the cinema. The panel delved into a discussion about the movie and its themes.
Panellists included Moderator: Nimi Mehta, UAE-based TV and radio Personality; Maria Leonard, spiritual growth coach; Kai Simmons, holistic life coach; Farah Al Alami, a book expert behind the Al Alami Book Club; Annabelle Corton, assistant head of programming at Emirates Literature Foundation.
The conversations revolved around the lasting damage of abandonment, the impact of trauma on relationships and the constancy of nature in life. Maria Leonard, spiritual growth coach and Kai Simmons, holistic life coach have both pointed out how the societal pressures set in the 1950s are still very true, especially for women in this generation and how in so many ways, each of us is just like Kya who is learning to deal with the light and darkness within her.
Literary notes from Farah Al Alami, a book expert behind the Al Alami Book Club and Annabelle Corton, Assistant Head of Programming at Emirates Literature Foundation who also hosts the Foundation Book Club and the Foundation’s English language book club for inmates at Dubai Prison made audiences appreciate the beauty of the movie and at the same time encouraged them to read the book to dive deeper into the brilliant mind and masterpiece of Delia Owens.
Songstress and entrepreneur Layla Kardan, who before the start of the movie, gave a soulful rendition of the Swift song, Carolina. She completed the panel and openly shared about her personal traumas and how like Kya, she used her music and art to create something beautiful out of her negative experiences.
The meaningful conversations revolved around the lasting damage of abandonment, the impact of trauma on relationships and the constancy of nature in life. Leonard and Simmons pointed out how the societal pressures set in the 1950s continue to this day, especially for women in this generation and how in so many ways, each of us is just like Kya who is learning to deal with the light and darkness within her.
Alami and Corton who also hosts the Foundation Book Club and the Foundation’s English language book club for inmates at Dubai Prison, made audiences appreciate the beauty of the movie and at the same time encouraged them to read the book. Kardan completed the panel and openly shared about her personal traumas and how like Kya, she used her music and art to create something beautiful out of her negative experiences.
Other activations that also took place at the event included live hand painted bags and several poster installations inspired by the same marshlands to take pictures for the movie premiere of the UAE release.
