Thirty films will make their Middle East premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival, which starts in a week.
The six-day extravaganza will offer the best in contemporary French, British, Iranian, Filipino and Russian cinema – and will also have a strong showing from the Indian subcontinent, organisers said.
Many art-house films of the kind rarely seen in high-street cinemas are included in the programme.
Tens of thousands of moviegoers are expected to attend the ground-breaking festival at several locations in the city.
Award-winning Latin American favourite The Motorcycle Diaries, which follows the life of revolutionary Che Guevara, and Iranian romantic adventure The Tear of the Cold are among the films the public will get a chance to see.
More than 25 countries are represented at the inaugural event, which runs from December 6 to 11.
The DIFF management said it has selected films that represent a variety of subjects and cinematic genres with the aim of breaking down cultural barriers.
“This is a great opportunity for the people of the UAE to see films they would not otherwise see in our mainstream cinemas,” said Abdul Hamid Juma, chief executive of organiser Dubai Media City.
“We want to broaden the horizons of the public and have deliberately selected foreign films and independent films to enhance the breadth and depth of films shown here.”
A total of 77 films will be shown at the festival.
Programmes
- One of the films to be shown at the festival is Hamburg Cell, which re-enacts the radicalisation of the September 11 suicide hijackers. Since its launch at the Edinburgh Film Festival, the film has impressed the critics with its neutral storyline and direction.
- Russian art-house film The Return, one of its country’s most celebrated cinematic offerings in recent years, is also on the festival schedule. Another film, Tunisian-French-German feature Bab’Aziz, is making its world premiere in Dubai.
- On top of the 30 films being shown for the first time in the Middle East at the festival, 13 are making their Gulf debut. Festival chief executive and director Neil Stephenson said films from a wide variety of countries had been selected to help bridge cultural divides.
- Although many independent films are included, offerings from Hollywood and Bollywood are also included. In all, 55 of the movies are feature films, while 10 are sidebar screenings and 15 are short Arab films.
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