DIFF announces this year's lineup

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) officially inaugurated its fifth season Sunday, unveiling the various competitions, events and names that will contribute to making it increasingly prominent on the cinema world stage.

Festival Chairman Abdul Hamid Juma announced that DIFF, taking place at Madinat Jumeirah from December 11-18, will feature 181 films from 66 different countries from the Arab World and across the globe, highlighting the event’s motto, Building Cultures, Meeting Minds.

“The diversity of films has increased at DIFF this year due to the addition of the new Muhr AsiaAfrica competition, which has added films from unexpected markets like Pakistan and Afghanistan to the mix, in addition to award-winning cinema from Japan, Turkey and Iran," said Masoud Amr Allah Al Ali, Artistic Director and Director General of the Competition.

Opening with Oliver Stone

DIFF will lauch with the opening night gala W, the Oliver Stone biopic about the life and presidency of George W. Bush, and the Gala of the World Cinema segment will be Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which tells the story of a tea boy in a Mumbai call centre who stands to win the Indian version of Who Wants to Win a Million Dollars?

The Cinema of the World section will also feature on the year’s most anticipated films such as Baz Luhrman’s epic picture Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

Three projects

DIFF will present three commemorative projects: Focus 2008, an industry booklet in collaboration with the Marché du Film- Festival de Cannes. In addition to the information on world film market trends, DIFF has commissioned the Nielsen Company to include a dedicated segment on emerging trends in the Arab world from the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia; a collectors’ DVD of eight Emirati films screened at DIFF over the last four years; and a limited-edition book celebrating the golden years of Egyptian cinema.

Furthermore, the themes of tolerance and world peace are taken up in the Cultural Bridge panel, which will feature a gathering of distinguished guests who will explore the call for dialogue expressed in DIFF’s credo, Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds. This year’s panel will include Canadian journalist Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto Film Festival; Yasmina Khadra (the pen name of Algerian novelist Mohammed Moulessehoul); Jamaican-American singer, musician and social activist Harry Belafonte; Ethiopian-American filmmaker Haile Gerima; and Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta.

Cinema against Aids

Extending the Building Bridges credo, Cinema Against AIDS Dubai will enjoy its second year at DIFF under the patronage of Princess Haya Bint Hussain, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai. The glamorous dinner auction last year raised Dh3 million for AmfAr, an Aids and HIV research and public policy advocacy group. The event will be feted by a number of A-list celebrities such as Goldie Hawn, Salma Hayek, Laura Linney and Preity Zinta.

To complement the offerings of the new Muhr AsiaAfrica competition, a full programme called Cinema of AsiaAfrica has been introduced, as well as a full programme dedicated to eye-catching animation works from around the world.

Children's films

Children will be given the chance to create their own short animated film in a special three-day workshop by international experts that will teach children in the craft. Continuing to develop DIFF’s educational mandate, DIFF 2008 will also screen one-minute videos by adolescents who participated in a recent workshop with Unicef’s oneminutesjr initiative. This international programme seeks to give youth the tools express themselves on issues of relevance to adolescents globally.

Celebrity participation

A number of celebrity guests have confirmed their attendance for this year’s festival, a star-studded affair that will see the world’s most prominent filmmakers, industry figures, literary lights and of course stars walk the red carpet. Hollywood heartthrobs Nicholas Cage and Brendan Fraser will heat up the cool desert nights at DIFF 2008, along with Oliver Stone, Danny Glover and Eliza Bennett. Nicolas Cage will attend with legendary producer Charles Roven (The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, the Brothers Grimm), who will receive a Filmmaker of the Year award at DIFF 2008. Salma Hayek, Goldie Hawn and Laura Linney are all set to grace the 2008 amfAR red carpet.

From India, DIFF will welcome Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who will be in Dubai to unveil the first look at their work-in-progress, Delhi 6; Anil Kapoor and Freida Pinto will come to promote their Slumdog Millionaire; Preity Zinta, Honourary Chair of amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS Dubai event and lead of Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth, for which she won Best Actress at the Chicago Film Festival earlier this year; and Nandita Das, who will promote her directorial debut Firaaq. South Indian superstar Mamooty will also grace the proceedings.

Arab world

From the Arab world, we will see Yasmina Khadra, Carmen Lebbos, Sameer Ghanem, Sameer Sabri, Jameel Rateb, Yahya Al Fakhrani, Hicham Saleem, Saeed Saleh, Sabah Al Jazayari, Salaf Fawakharji, Tayyam Hasan, Samer Al Masri and Jamal Sulaiman.

GCC stars include Saad Abdullah, Mohammed Al Mansoor, AbdurRahman al Aqal, Tareq Al Ali, Lateefa Al Majran, Suaad Ali, Abdul Mohsin Al Namar, Nasir Al Qasbi, Abdul Aziz Jasim and Ghanem Al Saliti. The UAE will be well represented by Ahmed Al Jasmi, Jaber Naghmoosh, Habeeb Ghaloom, Moza Al Mazroohi, Ahmed Al Ansari, Marwan Abdullah Saleh, Maree al Halyan amongst many others.

Cultural bridge

The Cultural Bridge Panel will attract Indian-Canadian master filmmaker Deepa Mehta, Canadian journalist Cameron Bailey, the legendary singer Harry Belafonte and Algerian novelist Mohammed Molessehoul.

Finally, the three 2008 recipients of DIFF’s annual salutes awards were also announced today, dedicated to honouring outstanding career achievements of filmmakers from the Middle East, the West and Asia.

“Our 2008 Honourees for the DIFF Salutes Awards are French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb, Chinese action director Tsui Hark, and American-British fantasy master Terry Gilliam,” Juma said. “All of them have pushed the boundaries of cinema and made it immeasurably richer, not just in their home markets but internationally as well. From the stories they tell to the techniques they employ, they epitomize the spirit we feel is embodied in the DIFF Salutes concept.”

Ticket information:

The Grand Cinemas at Dubai Festival City have been added to the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai Media City and Mall of the Emirates as screening venues. Box Offices are located at the Grand Festival City, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Madinat Arena, the lobby of the CNN building at Dubai Media City and Cinestar at Mall of the Emirates. All Box Offices are open from 10am to 10pm, with the exception of the CNN Building, which will open from 10am to 6pm.

The DIFF Call Centre is open from 9am to 6pm until the festival starts, then remaining open until 9pm.

Ticket prices are Dh25 for adults and Dh20 for students and children. For Gala screenings, tickets are Dh80 and Dh50 for adults and children, but children’s attendance at Gala films is limited to the Cinema for Children Gala screening of Seven of Daran. For all other galas, audience members must be 16 and older.

For further details on online ticket sales and box office opening date, go to the festival’s website at www.dubaifilmfest.com