Saudi anime ‘Future’s Folktales’ trailer highlights cultural fusion

DUBAI: Egyptian American actor Ramy Youssef’s animated series “#1 Happy Family USA” will make its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, which runs from March 7 to 15.

The show explores the experiences of a Muslim-American family in the early 2000s.

Youssef voices Rumi Hussein, a 12-year-old boy with big dreams and a desire to fit in. Rumi, named after the 13th century poet, also has a hard time living up to the name.

Youssef also voices Rumi’s father, a former cardiothoracic surgeon who now runs a halal cart.

The series stars actress Alia Shawkat, who is of Iraqi, American, Irish, Italian and Norwegian descent, Egyptian-Canadian comedian Salma Hindy, US singer-actress Mandy Moore, “Ramy” actress Randa Jarrar, and US comedians Chris Redd, Akaash Singh and Whitmer Thomas.

Youssef is the co-creator of the series with US writer and TV producer Pam Brady. The pair are the executive producers of the show with Iraqi-British journalist Mona Chalabi. A24 and Amazon Studios co-produced.

It is the unsolved murder that still grips the public imagination almost three decades later. Netflix’s 2024 “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey” reexamines the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old beauty queen.

Directed by Joe Berlinger, the three-part series dives deeper into the investigative missteps, the chaotic media frenzy surrounding the case and the lingering questions that continue to haunt a picturesque mountain town in the US. 

The story unfolds the morning after Christmas in Boulder, Colorado, when the pretty 6-year-old goes missing from her slept-in bed.

JonBenet’s disappearance was initially believed to be a kidnapping as the family found a bizarrely worded, lengthy handwritten ransom note in their home. It demanded an odd amount of money — $118,000, which exactly matched the amount of John Ramsey’s Christmas bonus. 

Expert examination revealed the handwriting matched nobody’s in the Ramsey household, but it had been ripped out of a notepad found in the house.

Police officers entered the Ramsey home and looked around, but did not find the missing child. Her body was later discovered there; she had been strangled and bludgeoned.

From the outset, the documentary paints a damning picture of the Boulder Police Department’s mishandling of the investigation, from failing to secure the crime scene early on to focusing on the Ramsey family — to not focusing enough on the family.

All while overlooking other potential leads. 

Critics argue that it glosses over key elements, leaving viewers with an incomplete picture of the case. 

For those unfamiliar with the case, the series offers a look at it from semi-fresh eyes. An unsolved murder never expires. 

Now, 28 years later, the passage of time only heightens the frustration.

This cold case serves as a stark reminder of how flawed investigations can destroy lives and how this little girl has been frozen in time forever.

And so far her killer — or killers — got away with their crime.