Every year, organisers of Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) face the same challenge: keeping open a late selection deadline that ensures they can snag the most relevant titles from around the world.
“We cannot have a festival without the best films from Toronto, the best films from Venice, so the selection closes late to secure films,” said Teresa Cavina, director of programming.
But in the end, Cavina says, choosing those final films is akin to adopting children. She’s so committed to the idea that she refers to the selections as “our kids”. “Like with your children, you have for each one a different kind of love. One you love because it’s funny, the other because it’s smart, the other because it’s nice — there are different ways.”
And as with children, you can’t favour one over the other. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the abundant choices at this year’s ADFF, Cavina discussed six titles to add to your list of movies-not-to-miss.
1. Trash (113 minutes)
Director: Stephen Daldry
Talent: Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen, Wagner Moura, Selton Mello Screening: October 25, 9.15pm at Emirates Palace
“Trash is a great ride. It’s set in Brazil, and it’s about [two] street boys, and they make a living going to [dump] stuff in the landfills. Then they find something that they shouldn’t find, so they have to run away for almost two hours, and the two hours goes on in a flash, because it’s so full of action, so funny. There’s a social issue, of course, about poverty, about homeless kids, and so on and so forth, but the film itself is a great ride.”
2. Two Men in Town (120 minutes)
Director: Rachid Bouchareb Talent: Forest Whitaker, Harvey Keitel, Ellen Burstyn, Luis Guzmán
Screening: October 25, 8.45pm at Vox 9
“If you want to see a good filmmaker of Arab descent, in a completely different territory, I would advise to watch Two Men in Town by Rachid Bouchareb. It’s a great film with Forest Whittaker and Harvey Keitel in the lead roles, and actually, it talks about the Arab world, but the story is set in New Mexico.”
3. ‘71 (99 minutes)
Director: Yann Demange Talent: Jack O’Connell, Sean Harris, Sam Reid, Charlie Murphy Screening: October 27, 8.45pm at Vox 1
“‘71 is from a first-time filmmaker in English. First of all, I think that this is something that all first-time filmmakers should watch, because there is such an energy inside this film. It’s set in Belfast in the title year, 1971. It’s about an English soldier that gets lost in the most dangerous Belfast area — it is an opportunity to discover an actor [who is] already big in the UK, Jack O’Connell, and very soon, he’ll be big everywhere, because he’s also the leading actor of the upcoming Angelina Jolie film, Unbroken.”
4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (101 minutes)
Director: Roy Andersson Talent: Nisse Vestblom, Holger Andersson Screening: October 25, 6.45pm at Vox 1
“This is from an iconic filmmaker, Roy Andersson, [and it] brings together cinema, theatre, black humour, social and philosophical issues, and all of this is not seen from a human point of view, because the title is a “pigeon” sat on a branch, reflecting on existence. It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s cinema, it’s theatre.”
5. 99 Homes (112 minutes) Director: Ramin Bahrani Talent: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern, Noah Lomax Screening: October 24, 9.15pm at Emirates Palace
“This one is great, because our Spiderman, Andrew Garfield, actually, in this film for the first time, it shows the great actor [he is]. It’s an engaging, important story about nowadays society, and Andrew Garfield really shines as a great, great actor. Young actors, you see their face and they become famous doing Spiderman, Wolverine, X-Man, Twilight, and then all of a sudden, they move to art house films and you discover that they are really incredible actors — it’s not because they look good that they’re on screen.”
6. Whiplash (105 minutes) Director: Damien Chazelle Talent: Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell Screening: October 30, 9.15pm at Emirates Palace
“This year, the Oscar situation looks more confused than last year. Last year, for example, when in Toronto there was a world premiere of 12 Years a Slave, everyone was saying, ‘That’s going to be an Oscar film’. But there is one [this year] that’s coming more and more in articles about Oscars, and it is actually a second-time filmmaker, Damien Chazelle, and the film is Whiplash. The world premiere was at Sundance, where it was awarded the best film of [the] dramatic competition, then it went to Cannes where it got the award of the best film of the Directors’ Fortnight, then in Toronto where it got raving reviews and like, seven minutes of standing ovation, then it went to the New York Film Festival, and again it got a standing ovation.”
