Dubai International Film Festival
| Dubai International Film Festival مهرجان دبي السينمائي الدولي |
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| Location | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Language | Arabic English |
| www.dubaifilmfest.com | |
The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) (Arabic: مهرجان دبي السينمائي الدولي) is an international film festival based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched in 2004, it aims to foster the growth of filmmaking in the Arab world.[1] Its ninth edition will be held from December 9 to 16, 2012.[2]
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[edit] Overview
The Dubai International Film Festival is held under the honorary Chairmanship of Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. It is a not-for-profit cultural event, presented and organised by the Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority. The Festival is an "A" Festival in FIAP accreditation.
The Festival presents cinematic productions from around the world and offers a high-profile platform for aspiring home-grown talent. The Muhr Award for Excellence in Arab Cinema was launched in 2006, with the aim of recognizing Arab filmmakers both regionally and internationally. In 2008, the Muhr Awards for Excellence were expanded to include two separate competitions, the Arab Muhr Award, and the AsiaAfrica Muhr Award. It also introduced a new program segment dedicated exclusively to Animation.
Another initiative introduced in 2006 was the Industry Office, established with a view to assist registered delegates. The Dubai Film Connection was established in 2007 to stimulate the growth of the film industry in the Arab world.
Other initiatives launched in 2007 included Rhythm and Reels, The Magic of Cinema Photo exhibition and the inaugural amfAR Cinema Against Aids Dubai. In December 2010 the Rhythm and Reels open air cinema event was held on Jumeirah Beach using an inflatable screen.
“Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds” was chosen as the theme to promote better understanding and mutual respect between different communities and countries.[3]
Since its inception, DIFF has become an important meeting point for international and regional filmmakers and industry professionals. Hundreds of films, documentaries and shorts from more than 50 countries have been shown at the festival. The sixth Dubai International Film Festival took place in December 2010.
In conjunction with the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) professional training, networking and project development organization, the Dubai International Film Festival in 2010 also began offering to filmmakers the Interchange group of development and co-production workshops earmarked for directors, screenwriters and producers from the larger Arab region.[4]
[edit] Programme
DIFF’s offering is as diverse as it is unique. In 2011, it screened 171 films from 56 nations over eight days, including 46 world premieres, 25 international premieres, 78 Middle East premieres and seven GCC premieres, delivering on its promise to bring never-before-seen quality films to the people of the UAE.
The films, made in more than 32 languages from Cantonese to Catalan, spanned DIFF’s prestigious competition and popular out-of-competition segments.
[edit] Competitions
Since 2004, the Dubai International Film Festival has grown from strength to strength, enhancing its programming and stature with the phased introduction of three core competitions – Muhr Arab competition, the only competition in the world to focus exclusively on Arab cinema; the Muhr Asia Africa competition, a nod to the surrounding region, its cinema traditions and its global heft; and the Muhr Emirati competition, dedicated to the talent and cinema of the United Arab Emirates.
[edit] Out of Competition
The Festival’s out of competition segments include programmes dedicated to children’s cinema, Indian cinema, world, Arab and Gulf cinema, films from Asia and Africa, in addition to special nation-focused and honoree segments.
DIFF Lifetime Honorees, for example, read like a Who's Who of international cinema, and include:
- Morgan Freeman (2005)
- Omar Sharif, Oliver Stone, Nabil Maleh, Shahrukh Khan (2006)
- Danny Glover, Im Kwon-Taek, Youssef Chahine (2007)
- Terry Gilliam, Rachid Bouchareb, Charles Roven (2008)
- Tsui Hark, Amitabh Bachchan, Faten Hamama (2009)
- Souleymane Cisse, Sabah, Sean Penn (2010)
- Gamil Ratib, A.R Rahman, Werner Herzog (2011)
[edit] Dubai Film Market: “From Script to Screen”
On the business side, the Festival also gradually introduced an array of industry initiatives timed to keep up with market needs. In 2010, these disparate initiatives were united to form the Dubai Film Market, the most comprehensive film market in the Arab world and the only gateway of its kind between the major film centres of Europe and South East Asia. The Market represents and furthers the cinema interests of the 70-plus nations of the Middle East, Africa, and South and Central Asia.
The Market works from script to screen, covering every aspect of cinema from talent and professional development through to film sales. It houses the Dubai Film Forum, its popular hub for talent development, funding, workshops and professional networking; the Dubai Film Connection, the Festival’s successful coproduction market; Enjaaz, the dedicated post-production support programme; and Dubai Filmmart, specializing in content trade, acquisition and distribution. Over the last few years, each of these component parts has established a significant track record, alumni base and cachet.
- The Dubai Film Forum, a professional development and networking hub, champions the exchange of ideas, skills, knowledge and expertise through a series of sought-after discussion panels, seminars and workshops, and focused networking sessions.
- The Dubai Film Connection (DFC) bringing international and Arab film professionals together to collaborate on the realisation of approximately 15 selected projects each year. Since its launch in 2007 the DFC has showcased a total of 64 films in development (fiction and documentary) of which 19 films have now been completed and a further 12 are in production.
- Enjaaz is DIFF's post-production support programme, which awards between USD20,000 to USD100,000 per film, to help Arab and Arab-origin filmmakers working on fiction features and documentaries to take their work from the last stage of development to the screen. Enjaaz supports up to 15 projects annually.
- The Dubai Filmmart offers industry buyers films at their fingertips, via a digital screening system linking sales agents to filmmakers and buyers and eliminating the need for booths.
[edit] Celebrities
The 2011 Festival opened in unforgettable style, with the world’s first public screening of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, complete with red carpet appearances by the film’s headlining stars including A-listers Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Anil Kapoor and acclaimed director Brad Bird. Cruise and team were joined on the red carpet by His Highness Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai and the patron of DIFF.
Other DIFF2011 red carpet screenings spanned the Egyptian, Indian, German, French and American film industries, including the award-winning My Week with Marilyn, The Descendants, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, The Muppets, Terraferma, A Whole One, and Three Quarter Moon.
The star-studded carpet was by no means an anomaly: Previous editions have been graced by A-listers including Colin Firth, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, George Clooney, Oliver Stone, Nicholas Cage, Gerard Butler, Salma Hayek, Orlando Bloom, Terry Gilliam, Richard Gere, HM Queen Noor of Jordan, Omar Sharif, Adel Imam, Duraid Lahham, Daoud Abdul Sayed, Hussein Fahmi, Ben Affleck, Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Freida Pinto and Giancarlo Giannini, among others.
