DUBAI, 27 November 2004 — Bridging cultures, meeting minds. This is the theme for the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), the first of its kind in the region that would bring together films and film personalities from around the world but with a special focus on Arab cinema.
Among those expected to attend the Dec. 6-11, 2004 event are personalities like Omar Sharif and Daoud Abdul Sayed in addition to a host of Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian and Gulf actors. Also expected are leading stars from the sub-continent. Final details of who would attend are being worked out. The event will feature approximately 80 films which will include 55 features, as well as retrospective and short films.
Out of the 80 films, a total of 30 will be Arab, the largest percentage of any one type of cinema in the festival.
Built around the central theme of Building Cultural Bridges, the Dubai International Film Festival aims to be a forum for inter-cultural conversation through the work of filmmakers, says Abdul Hamid Juma, chief executive of Dubai Media City (DMC). The man in charge of the festival is Neil Stephenson, a Canadian expert in the international film festival.
The Dubai festival will not have any awards this year but organizers are not ruling out instituting honors along the lines of other international film festivals, such as Cannes and Moscow.
The DIFF has already been presented at the Cannes International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.
“The festival’s theme of cultural understanding has touched a chord with filmmakers and artists around the globe at a time when it is more crucial than ever to build cultural bridges. In a world of globalization, there is a particular need for cultures to communicate openly in order to pave the way for understanding,” said Juma.
The festival will see the screening of four international films at an outdoor theater at the Dubai Media City. Four classis movies will be shown in a special program, titled Screen on the Green that will feature a state-of-the-art 10x20m screen.
Juma says the films were selected for their popularity in their cultures of origin and their ability to transcend that culture. Apart from all-time classic Lawrence of Arabia, the open air screen will show Shekhar Kapur’s Mr. India; the Tagalog Gagamboy (Spiderman), and Five Children and It, a family adventure film starring Kenneth Branagh and Eddie Izzard.
Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O’Toole, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif, conveys the enigmatic, complex life and exploits of an eccentric British Army officer who aids the Arab Bedouins against the Turks during World War I.
