The festival will continue through April 16 at Dubai Festival City, with a parallel screening of the festival’s key films to be screened over the weekend from April 12 to 14 at the Abu Dhabi Theater.
In all, 347 films are being screened at the festival, across its Gulf, Gulf Student and International shorts competitions; and the out-of-competition Lights, Intersections, Films for Children, Cherries of Kiarostami and Gerard Courant showcases.
At the opening ceremony, the festival honored veteran Bahraini filmmaker Bassam Al-Thawadi and saluted legendary Iranian actor Behrouz Vossoughi for their contribution to cinema. The Kuwaiti feature film “Tora Bora” was the opening film of GFF 2012.
“Tora Bora,” which revolves around a young man’s decision to join extremist forces in Afghanistan, and his parents’ agonized search for him, also marks the veteran Kuwaiti actor Saad Al-Faraj’s return to feature films after decades.
A number of stars from the region walked the red carpet. UAE stars included: Alaa Al-Nuaimi, Marwan Abdullah Saleh, Mansoor Al-Ghassani, Mansoor Al-Fili, Fatema Al-Jassim, Huda Al Khatib, Hani Al-Shibani, Mohammed Saeed Al-Salti, Abdulrahman Al-Zarouni, Adel Ibrahim, Hassan Youssef, Reem, Khalid Ali, Ahmed Nasser, Omar Al-Mulla, Huda Salah, Nivine Madhi, Alia Al-Shamsi, Huda Hamdan, Bilal Abdullah, Habib Ghuloom, Rawya Abdullah, Aisha Abdullah, Jassim Obaid, Shaimaa Al-Janahi and others.
Kuwaiti celebrities included: Tora Bora director Walid Al Awadi and the stars of the movie, Saad Al-Farraj, Khalid Ameen and Al-Araby Al-Sassy. Other Arab and Gulf celebrities included: Basima Hamada, Shahd Yasen, Basm Al-Amir, Abeer Al-Jundi, Ahmed Abraaj, Zyna Karam, Mohammed Khalifa, Hassan Yaseen, Ahmed Mubarak, Saud Ali, Ibrahim Al-Hasawi, Abdulaziz Jaseem, Nasser Mohammad, Mohammed Yaseen, Mariam Sultan, Zahra, Haifa Hussein, Ala’a Shakir and Fatema Abdulrahim, among others.
