Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2011

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 04 October 2011 22:20

Written by Adrienne Kehn

Humor to horror, Hollywood to Bollywood, heart-pounding blockbusters to heart-breaking romances –- audiences in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  have access to a remarkable diversity of film choices.

So what makes the Abu Dhabi Film Festival held October 13-22, special?

Here are several factors that makes this film festival experience so exciting.

ADFF also pays special attention to developments in Arab cinema, fostering the region’s distinctive film culture and celebrating its achievements with a global audience. This year, nearly half of the Festival’s program of short and feature-length films is from the Arab world, providing local audiences the chance to explore and understand what is exciting and distinctive about Arab film culture.

Then there’s the advantage of access: Filmmakers attend nearly every screening during the 10-day Festival and take questions from the audience at special post-screening Q&A sessions. And be on the lookout for movie stars from the Arab world and beyond who attend screenings and participate in the Festival’s special events.

Film festivals are renowned for the excitement percolating around the red carpet, and ADFF is no exception with celebrities, camera-toting press, eager fans and all the glamor you’d expect of an international celebration of cinema.

Celebrating its 5th year, the ADFF will screen more than 200 feature and short films by established and emerging filmmakers representing 43 countries. Among the feature films 8 will have their World Premieres and 6 will celebrate their International Premieres. 5 of the features were co-produced with SANAD, the Festival’s fund that provides development and post-production support for films from the Arab world.

The Festival opens October 13 with the critically acclaimed Monsieur Lazhar, directed by Philippe Falardeau and starring Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron,
Danielle Proulx, and Brigitte Poupart.

The Festival closes with the Black Pearl Awards ceremony on October 22.

The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (formerly the Middle East International FilmnFestival) was established in 2007, with the aim of helping to create a vibrant film culture throughout the region.

Presented each October by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, the event is committed to curating exceptional
programs to engage and educate the local community, inspire filmmakers and nurture the growth of the regional film industry.

Executive Director Peter Scarlet remarked, "A film festival like ours -– in fact any film festival worthy of the name -- exists for very different reasons. We are showing the films in our program simply because, at one point or another, one of us here on the programming team fell in love with it.

"We travel the world all year, we explore, we are detectives, we try to find the most wonderful work made everywhere, and we bring it back to Abu Dhabi to help to open windows to what’s happening in the rest of the world for the people here.

One of the first reasons people come to festivals is to ind out what some of the great filmmakers been doing lately.

We are happy to present an especially strong line-up this year.Going almost at random:

• Andrey Zvyagintsev, one of Russia’s great filmmakers
• David Cronenberg, one of Canada’s major filmmakers
• Nanni Moretti from Italy
• Steven Soderbergh,Martin Scorsese and George Clooney from the US
• Michael Winterbottom from the UK
• Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders from Germany
• James Marsh, who won an Oscar is back with his latest doc
• Arturo Ripstein, maybe Mexico’s greatest filmmaker
• Hirokazu Kore-Eda from Japan
• Asghar Farhadi from Iran,
• Chen Kaige from China

These are some of the top names in world cinema and we are proud to have been able to bring their latest films here."

For a complete list of films visit http://www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae/

Abu Dhabi Film Festival
October 13-22, 2011

Fairmont Bab Al Bahr
Marina Mall
Abu Dhabi Theater
Abu Dhabi, AE

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