Plans have been revealed to produce a documentary about one of the most notorious murder cases to take place in Dubai.
UK filmmaker Havana Marking is reportedly developing a film about the brutal murder of Lebanese pop star Suzanne Tamim in Dubai in 2008.
“It’s early days and we’re investigating access to various parties. It’s very complex but if we can pull it off, it will be amazing,” said Marking in comments published by Screen International.
Marking, who is attending Dubai International Film Festival, said the BBC’s international feature documentary strand BBC Storyville will part fund the project, adding that she is looking for additional funding, preferably from the Middle East.
Tamim, who rose to fame after her appearance in an Arabic TV talent contest, was found dead in her Jumeirah Beach Residence apartment in July 2008, aged 30.
Original reports said her killer had taken just 12 minutes to enter the Rimal 1 building, slit her throat, and leave for Dubai Airport.
Prominent Egyptian businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa was later convicted in a trial in Cairo in 2010 of hiring hitman Muhsin al-Sukkari for $2m to kill the singer. He is currently serving a 15-year sentence.
“The murder was real tabloid fodder. Everything has been said about Tamim from all angles but it will be nice to tell her story properly and try to see her as a person,” said Marking.
The report said Dubai producer Rosie Kingham, who secured interviews with the Dubai police force on its successful investigation into an audacious raid on the House of Graff jewellers in the city’s Wafi Mall in 2007 for Marking’s Smash & Grab documentary, will also work on the Tamim documentary.
Marking said that much of the shoot will be in Lebanon and Egypt, adding that both Talaat Moustafa and al-Sukkari have requested to be interviewed for the documentary.
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