As the star studded Dubai International Film Festival approaches, we go beyond the red carpet in search of the regional films that are destined to shine.
By Natalie Trevis
A celebration of independent cinema in the region, the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) opens later this month, bringing together 134 new and noteworthy films from 60 countries. Jake Gyllenhaal, Richard Dreyfuss (celebrating the 40th anniversary of Jaws), Shah Rukh Khan, Melanie Griffith and Dev Patel will add international star power to the red carpet during the festival and will undoubtedly keep flashbulbs popping. Guest of honour Gyllenhaal is set to be honoured with the International Star of the Year award and will also appear at an ‘In Conversation With’ event on December 10, which will give fans an opportunity to meet and greet the South Paw actor.
But it’s not only the glitz and glamour of the red carpet that will capture our imaginations at DIFF this year. The subject matter of the featured films ranges from the US economic crash in Adam McKay’s The Big Short, with its ensemble cast of Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling, to the surreal road trip of a Palestinian-Jordanian man living in isolation in The Curve (directed by Rifqi Assaf). Whether high drama, romance or horror is your go-to genre, there’s more than enough variety in this year’s programme to entice you to try something different. We couldn’t be prouder to support the films in the Muhr Feature category (by directors from the Arab region), offering challenging story lines in beautifully cinematic packages.
23 Kilometres (2015)
Lebanese filmmaker Noura Kevorkian follows up her award-winning documentary Veils Uncovered with 23 Kilometres, the story of one final journey taken by an Armenian man with late stage Parkinson’s disease. The hyrbid documentary essay follows Barkev Kevorkian (her father) in the final chapters of his life through his journals, memories and, set to heart-stoppingly beautiful music, travels into his past. Interspersed with impressionistic blurs from the past, Barkev sets off on the 23km journey across Lebanon’s Bekka Valley to make peace with all that has gone before.
Going to Heaven (2015)
Saeed Salmeen Al Murry is no stranger to film festival success, winning Best Emirati Filmmaker at DIFF in 2008, multiple Emirates Film Competition accolades and making the shortlist of the IWC Filmmaker Award in 2014. This time around, a coming of age tale sees the disillusioned 11-year old Sultan set off on a road trip to find his absent grandmother and escape a cruel stepmother, reliving beloved memories and making new ones along the way.
Before the Summer Crowds (2015)
Esteemed Egyptian director Mohamed Khan has helped to shape Egyptian cinema since the early Eighties. His latest offering is Before the Summer Crowds, starring Maged El Kedwany, Hana Shiha and Ahmed Dawood. Straddling drama and romance with more than a touch of satire, we watch the story unfold between a triangle of bourgeois neighbours and voyeurs who bump into one another on the annual summer exodus north.
Dubai International Film Festival will take place at Madinat Arena and Madinat Theatre in Souk Madinat Jumeirah and at VOX Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates, 9-16 December 2015, tickets are available at www.dubaifilmfest.com.
For more MOJEH film talk, read Films On Our Radar, Tribeca Film Festival: (Lack of) Women in Film or Woody Allen’s Leading Ladies
