As a part of ‘Cinema Of The World’ segment, Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) will roll out films from the world’s brightest directors and actors, including Michael Keaton, Jessica Chastain and Russel Crowe.
Directed by Academy Award nominee director Alejandro G. Inarritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a black comedy starring actors including Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis and Naomi Watts. It chronicles the struggles of Keaton, famous for his iconic superhero role, to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself.
Russell Crowe’s directorial debut The Water Diviner, an epic historical adventure set four years after the devastating battle of Gallipoli during World War I, will also be screened during Diff that runs from December 10 to 17. Crowe plays an Australian farmer called Joshua Connor, who travels to Istanbul to find out the fate of his sons who were reported missing in action.
J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year is a thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city’s history. The film, also starring Chastain, follows the lives of an immigrant (Oscar Isaac) and his family trying to expand their business and capitalise on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.
Also watch out for the Malayalam film, I’m Steve Lopez, by Rajeev Ravi starring Fahadh Faasil’s younger brother Farhaan. It’s a tale of Steve Lopez, the teenage son of an influential police officer. Lopez’s fairly predictable life is changed when he happens to witness a fight between two rival gangs and helps take an injured man to a hospital. The events lead him into the world of the gangsters.
Love in Tehran
Writer-director Jamshid Mahmoudi’s debut feature and Afghanistan’s entry for the foreign-language Academy Awards category A Few Cubic Metres of Love tells the story of a factory in the outskirts of Tehran which illegally employs Afghan asylum seekers. Saber, a young Iranian worker, meets Marona, daughter of an Afghan worker. A love story unfolds, the conclusion of which no one can foretell.
The main character in Celine Sciamma’s Girlhood is Marieme who is oppressed by her family setting, dead-end school prospects and the boys’ law in a tough suburban neighbourhood of Paris. Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her dress code and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping that this will be a way to freedom.
Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement co-direct and star in the horror mockumentary What we do in the Shadows, about a trio of vampires living in a New Zealand suburb who struggle to adapt to life in the 21st century. They have rent to pay, a schedule for household chores to stick to, and parties to attend.
Snow, directed by Mehdi Rahmani, presents a view of Iran’s struggling middle class. Returning from military service out of town, Omid returns to his family home to find it in shambles. His family was once affluent but has since fallen destitute. A suitor is arriving from abroad to propose to his sister, the family’s only daughter. His mother is trying all that she can to cover up their current situation before he arrives, but the skeletons in their closet won’t stay buried.
Also from Iran is Reza Dormishian’s I’m Not Angry!, a heart-breaking love story set in Tehran, in the middle of the political protests.
Sudan civil war
The Good Lie, directed by Philippe Falardeau and starring Reese Witherspoon, sheds light on the life of children orphaned by the brutal Civil War in Sudan that began in 1983.
In Bikas Ranjan Mishra’s Four Colors, set in the dark hinterland of India, Santu wants to go to school like his older brother Bajarangi. When Bajarangi returns from boarding school on holiday, he exposes Santu to the dreams of city life. But Santu’s destiny was pre-written in a village that’s steeped deep in caste-hierarchy and debauchery.
In the drama X+Y, directed by Morgan Matthews, Nathan, a socially awkward teenage math prodigy, struggles to connect with people. Without the ability to understand love or affection, Nathan finds confidence and friendships when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.
All films will screen as part of DIFF’s 11th edition, to take place from December 10 to 17, 2014. Schedules can be found on dubaifilmfest.com
