Over the course of eight fine, fine days, the city met numerous film figures - world-class silver screen stars, directors, screenwriters, producers, film critics, film distributors, film lovers and connoisseurs from 61 countries, including the Middle East and GCC countries. And, despite the fact that they all spoke 43 different languages, they understood each other very well, because they knew one universal language perfectly - the "language" of cinema.
This year, the DIFF organizers prepared such a diverse and extensive program that anyone could find something interesting in it, starting with closed previews of the upcoming big-budget Hollywood premieres of famous and recognized directors, and ending with watching independent films that pave the way for conquering new cinematic heights of novice filmmakers.
During the DIFF in Dubai, premieres of Arabian filmmakers were presented such as the drama Bekas ("Orphans") by Kurdish director Karzan Kadar and the drama dedicated to the cultural revolution, Saudi Arabian director Hayifa Al Mansour Haifa Al Mansour).
Among the world premieres at the festival, such expected films were demonstrated: the 3D adventure film Life of Pi ("Life Pi") by Taiwanese director Ang Lee, who opened the festival; the drama Hitchcock ("Hitchcock") directed by Sasha Gervasi, starring Anthony Hopkins (Alfred Hitchcock) and Helen Mirren (Alma Reville); 3D film performance of Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away ("Circus of the Sun: Infinitely Far"); Amour ("Love") drama by German director Michael Haneke and Wayne Blair's musical comedy The Sapphires ("Sapphires"), which closed the festival.
In the program of Asian-African premieres, the audience was waiting for the Chinese historical military drama Back to 1942 ("Back to 1942") directed by Feng Xiaogang with the participation of Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody.
A surprise was prepared for young viewers in the form of the Norwegian fairy-tale film Journey to the Christmas Star ("Journey to the Christmas Star").
CIS countries were represented at DIFF: the military film "In the Fog" by Russian director Sergei Loznitsa, the Turkmen drama "Garden Amal" (world premiere), the documentary "White Blood" by Azerbaijani directors Khayam Abdullayev and Elmeddin Alyev and the documentary "Silence" by the director from Kyrgyzstan Nargiza Mamatkulova. Both documentaries were selected for the short films competition in the Muhr AsiaAfrica Short category. The picture "Silence" won the first prize in the category "Best Short Feature Film in Asia and Africa."
As part of the DIFF, the famous Egyptian actor Mahmoud Abdul Aziz and the English director, screenwriter, producer and actor Michael Epted were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Awards for lifetime achievements and contribution to the development of world cinema.
This year the festival was attended by such world-famous stars as Cate Blanchett, Colin and Livia Firth, Frida Pinto, Kristen Davis, Kevin Spacey, Amr Wakid, Brian Ferry, Suraj Sharma, Stif Oram, Kyuuba Gooding Jr., Jessica Moboy, Shravati Sainat , Adil Hussein and Erica Linz. Among the Arab stars, the red carpet of the festival was Leyla Elui, Nelli, Khalid El Nabawi, Izzat Abu Uf, Sala El Sadani, Hassan Hosni, Gassan Masoud, Hani Ramzi, Mohammed Saad, Ahmed Ratib, Gada Adel, Ragaa Al Gadawi, Sherin Adel, Maxim Khalil, Yosra Ellosi, Amir Karara, Shirin Abdel Nur, Nermin El Fikki, Caroline Khalil, Magdi El Hawari, Samer Ismail, Mejar Hadur and Munzir Raikhan.
From the GCC countries at DIFF came: Haya Abdulsalam, Jushun, Ibrahim Al Khabri, Suad Ali, Abdul Muhsen El Nemera, Sal Al Mullah, Habib Gulum, Jaber Nagmush, Abdullah Bushiri, Shimaa Ali, Zahra Arafat, Fatima Abdulim Azim, Mansur Al Feli, Mahmoud Bu Shahri, Fatma Alsafi, Yakub Alsalili, Basim Abdulamir, as well as Ahmad Al Breiki, Hamad Al Omani, Asmahan, Jamal Al Radhan, Yakub Abdalla, Somud, Abir Al Jundi, Faisal Alameri, Buteyn Alran Raisi, Rome Arahma and Haifa Hussein.
Visitors and viewers had a unique opportunity to meet famous filmmakers, including Wayne Blair, Hayri Bishara, Abdulatif Abdulhamid, Nur Eddin Lahmari, Haiffa Al Masur, Stefan Arkinyard, Brian A. Miller, Brillante Mendoza, Saul Williamson, Andrew Adam , Feng Xiaogan, Takashi Miike, Nishta Jen and Mustafa Sarwar Faruki. For the prestigious Muhr Awards with a prize fund of US $ 575 thousand, 83 films fought at the festival.
They were presented in three categories - Muhr Emirati (Emirate films), Muhr Arab (Arabic films) and Muhr AsiaAfrica (Asian and African films). Initially, 2100 entries and films from 115 countries were received to participate in the competition program, which has become a record for DIFF since its inception. The filmmakers who won the competition were also awarded the prestigious FIPRESCI International Prize of the Critics Award. The jury of the festival this year included world-famous directors, producers and actors - British director Michael Epted, New Zealand actress Kerry Fox, Brazilian director Brunu Barretu, Korean director Lee Chan Dong, Iranian actress Fatime Mutamed Arya and Emirate director Niall Al Had.
Four directors took part in the competition for a prize from the Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Award in the amount of US $ 100 thousand, presenting screenplays of films they would like to shoot. The jury, which was chosen by the winner, was headed by the famous Australian actress Cate Blanchett, who caused a storm of applause and a lot of enthusiasm, appearing on the red carpet of the festival during its opening.
Any film festival is not only a unique chance for the audience to see the upcoming premieres and the opportunity to meet with famous actors and directors, but also a great prospect for film industry professionals to make new acquisitions and expand their business contacts.
In particular, 17 films were presented at the Dubai Film Market, the Dubai Film Market, the leading business platform in the Arabian cinema. Of particular note is the fact that the entire process of creating these films from the moment of writing the script to the end of the shooting took place with the full support of DIFF. In addition to all of the above, the festival program was full of various events, including seminars, discussions and the exchange of experience in areas such as film production, talent development, joint film production, post-production support for films and a trading platform. During the DIFF, TV Journalist Day and Documentary Film Day were held.
Cate blanchett exclamationpitchfork jury IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Award
The IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Award was established earlier this year. Her prize pool is US $ 100 thousand. The main goal of the award is to provide the necessary funds to the filmmakers who won the competition to translate their creative ideas on the screen.
Four directors fought for the title of winner of the award, the scripts of which were selected from hundreds of works, both well-known and aspiring directors from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.
The jury presented their works: Maysoon Pachachi - the film "Nothing Doing in Baghdad", Mohammed Rashed Buali - the film "The Sleeping Tree", Abdullah Al Kaabi (Abdullah Al Kaabi) - the film "Girls in the Know" (Girls in the Know) and Ali F. Mustafa (Ali F. Mostafa) - the film "From A to B" (From A to B). According to the jury, the prize was awarded to director Meysun Pachachi.
“For many years, our watch brand has been passionately fond of and admires movies. Each director, making his films, tells a separate exciting story,” said George Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen. As for IWC itself, the ability to tell stories is the basis for us. or, to be more precise, part of the DNA in everything that we do. The experience of our collaboration with major and leading film festivals in the region over the past few years has convinced us that the talent and film stories of the Persian and deserve to appear on the international stage. We believe in the quantitative growth of new voices, and are very pleased to contribute to the narrative of Arab filmmakers. To this end, and premium IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Award "was established.
It should be noted that, in addition to the charming Cate Blanchett, the jury will also include George Kern, Abdulhamid Juma, DIFF chairman, Masoud Amrallah Al Ali, art director of DIFF, and Olivier Per, general manager of the Paris company Arte France Cinema.
"The quality of the works announced for the competition impressed and pleased us! It’s very good that the filmmakers understand what opportunity they have, thanks to the IWC, to realize their ideas on the screen,” said Abdulhamid Juma, chairman of DIFF. “I think that in the countries of the Arab Cooperation Council The Gulf states have great cinematic potential .. The talented directors we selected for the finale only confirm my understanding of the situation. On behalf of the Gulf cinema community, we express IWC Schaffhausen is very grateful for the support and look forward to continued cooperation in the future. "
Young moviegoers
waiting for a lot of surprises at the Dubai film festival The Cinema for Children program, which was prepared by the DIFF organizers for children and their parents, was very diverse and interesting. Fluffy werewolves, musical bears, forest elves, the long-lost princess, exciting adventures and much, much more pleased young moviegoers in December.
“The children's program of the festival was chosen in such a way as to entertain our young viewers and, at the same time, expand their cinema horizons, motivate them to think about the world around us,” said Mirna Maakaron, compiler of the program “Cinema for Children.” that this year’s selection will be a peculiar and extremely exciting journey for a young audience, since we selected only the newest exciting and truly interesting films. "
In particular, the DIFF hosted the world premiere of the magical Christmas adventure film "Journey to the Christmas Star" - a "refreshing" remake of everyone's favorite Norwegian classics. The film tells the story of a brave girl embarking on a dangerous journey in order to find the Christmas Star, free the kingdom from the spell and return the long-lost princess, which is not so easy to do because of the enemies hindering her. Saturated with charming characters, elements of fantasy and a scene in the snow-covered Norwegian mountains, the plot of the film has all the necessary elements in order to be called a real magical adventure.
The film Fidgety Bram tells of a seven-year-old boy who couldn’t sit still in one place, which becomes real pain for him when he starts to go to school. Fijeti dreamed of a wonderful first grade and an amazing new school life, but instead he comes to a strict teacher, Mr. Fish.
A conservative teacher is not at all interested in Bram’s inner, mobile, and unfocused world. He does everything to make a child follow the rules. Parents of little Fijeti have a difficult task - to help their son adapt to new life realities as quickly as possible so that they do not make him unhappy.
This year, an animated film adaptation of the beloved children’s book Ernest and Celestine by the Belgian writer Gabrielle Vincent, which was also shown in Dubai, saw the light of day. The cartoon tells an amazing story about the friendship between the bear-musician Ernest, who lives in solitude, and the little mouse-orphan Celestine.
The Dutch filmmakers presented to the young viewers the unusual film Alfie, the Little Werewolf, which, despite the name, they liked very much.
Indian director Rajan Husa showed the children a film-tale "Gattu", telling about an illiterate street boy named Gattu, who loved to fly kites. The tape is interesting for both children and adults. In it, the director touches upon such problems of the modern world as poverty and child labor.
“Every year we try to find films for the festival’s children’s audience that are interesting, entertaining, and educational,” said Masood Amrallah, DIFF art director. “We want these films to be remembered forever.”
