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Arabian Nights at DIFF

Arab stars to take centrestage at Dubai International Film Festival's Gala Night

TRUE TO its mandate to promote and nurture Arabic cinema, DIFF will welcome Arab stars from all over the Middle East and beyond at its fourth edition, to take place from December 9 to 16.

The glittering Gala night of the Arabian Nights programming section will see Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch (Ali Zaoua, 2000; Mektoub, 1997) who will be present at the World Premiere of Whatever Lola Wants.

Star Carmen Lebbos (West Beyrouth, 1998) appears in two films in the festival, starring also in the Muhr Competition feature Falling From Earth, by director Chadi Zeineddine.

Jordanian star Nadim Sawalha likewise stars in Whatever Lola Wants and in the first Jordanian feature film in 30 years, Muhr Competitor Captain Abu Raed, which he will promote at DIFF with director Amin Matalqa.

Veteran director Mohammed Khan, whose Fi shaket Masr el Gedeeda (In the Heliopolis Flat) has been chosen to represent Egypt at the 2008 Academy Awards, will attend DIFF with the film’s young stars Khaled Abol Naga and Ghada Adel.

Continuing the trend of Egyptian film royalty, the festival will bestow the veteran Youssef Chahine with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to cinema. Additionally, screen stars Leila Aloui and Farouk Al-Fishawi will accompany Saad Hendawi’s film The Seventh Heaven, a visually stunning Muhr Awards competitor about two lovers overcoming their pasts.

Well-known UAE National actors Ibrahim Salem, Habib Ghuloom, Saeed Obaid and Ashjan (Umm Alawi from the Freej series) will accompany the film Tenbak, which deals with racism in Emirati society in the story of two life-long friends.

The Lebanese presence is also strong at DIFF. Borhane Alaouié will accompany his comeback film Khalass, a rich exploration of four characters struggling with post-civil war life in Beirut. Prolific Palestinian documentarian Mai Masri brings another look at the effects of conflict on Lebanese society with 33 Youm (33 Days).

Conflict is also examined in www.gilgamesh.21; the film documents long-distance chats between director Tariq Hashim, living in Denmark, and a young man in Baghdad.