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The six fix at MEIFF

ONE OF the highlights for the second day of the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), which takes place in Abu Dhabi this week, included a special presentation movie,

The UK movie, starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw tells the story of Bob Dylan's life and career. The iconic singer, songwriter and poet is depicted through six distinct stages of his life by six different actors, who each play incarnations of Dylan at various phases of his public and private life. There are many of the musician's songs in the film, but sung by others.

Filled with incidents from famous moments in Dylan's life, the goal is to summarise all the disparate elements in his career. The film is about the life of Dylan's early days as a struggling folksinger, his rise to the forefront of the early 1960's folk scene, the controversial switch to rock, the motorcycle accident and the subsequent retreat from public view, and the latter day recording on the concert series known as the Never Ending Tour. Each story expresses an aspect of Dylan's mercurial personality, and each is filmed differently. This is the first biographical feature project to secure the approval of Dylan himself.

The film was already screened at various international festivals around the world, including Venice Film Festival 2007, where it won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress — Cate Blanchett and CinemAwenire Award for Best Film, Special Jury Prize. Another attraction of yesterday's presentation was the 'I love Hip Hop in Morocco', a documentary film by Joshua Asen and Jennifer Needleman. The film tells the true story of a group of hip-hoppers, who try to turn their talent and passion into a real career.

With money scarce and resistance strong, the young artists, who also perform in the film, get virtually no support from their own society and cultural institutions. With the help of an American filmmaker, they appeal to the American Embassy for funding for the country's first-ever Hip Hop festival. So begins the journey that leads to the realisation of their dream — the 'I Love Hip Hop in Morocco' festival. Although the organisers face numerous roadblocks along the way—diplomatic bureaucracy disputes over money and unscrupulous stage-builders — they pull it off and fulfil the dream. The festival plays to massive crowds of young Moroccans in three cities, catapulting Moroccan Hip Hop from the underground into the spotlight.

Jennifer Needlman, who is in Abu Dhabi during MEIFF, told City Times that she is very curious how her film would be received here and what the UAE audience think about hip-hop. 'I also wanted to showcase the film's actors-musicians as much as possible. In making this film, I was particularly inspired by the Moroccan lead actress-singer', said Needleman. Her film is also selected for the MEIFF's Black Pearl Award, in the documentary section.