Dubai is becoming a world leader in all sorts of areas, from its renowned luxury tourism to its headline grabbing, ambitious architectural projects, and since 2004, it has also been the stage for one of the film industry’s rising festivals – the Dubai International Film Festival. Although it has been going for less than a decade, the Dubai International Film Festival is the oldest, as well as the biggest, festival of its kind in an Arab country, and as you would expect from the self styled playground of the rich, it is a glamorous affair with no shortage of stars studding it!
The Motto – “Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds”
The vision of the Dubai International Film Festival is made clear by its motto – “bridging cultures, meeting minds”. This refers to the diversity showcased at the festival, which is one of its big draws. With films mostly from Middle Eastern and Asian film makers, as well as those from further afield, it is the biggest cultural event for Arab and Asian film in the world, and is a really great festival if you love world cinema and want to see more of the work coming out of this region than you would ever get the chance to at the other major film festivals in Europe, the USA and Australia.
The diversity is further shown by the fact that each year there is one country outside of the Middle Eastern region given its own special focus. The country whose film makers will be invited to participate in 2012 is Canada, though in the past this part of the festival, dubbed “In Focus” has concentrated on China, Mexico, Germany, Italy and France. This not only gives each festival its own unique theme and flavour, but also allows the visitor to see a wide variety of work from a country that may not otherwise feature that strongly among the Arab and Asian films.
Watch the highlights of the 2011 Film Festival in Dubai
The Awards
While not all of the films seen at the festival are nominated for the awards that are given out there, the competitions are a major part of the festival’s drama, and there are plenty of different awards both selected by expert panels and voted for by the public. These awards recognise people large and small from the domestic and international film world, and are very highly sought after, even by the industry’s biggest names.
Muhr Awards
The Muhr Awards are a huge part of the Dubai International Film Festival, and since their inception in 2006 they have recognised the word of over 190 films, film makers and other industry professionals from all over the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The films that are recognised by the Muhr Awards are showcased at the festival, and encompass all sorts of genres from comedy to drama, short films to feature length movies and more. 31 different awards are given out each year, and along with a Muhr Award comes a nice share of a prize fund that currently stands at over half a million US dollars. This makes the awards very heavily coveted by film makers in the region, and with stiff competition comes excellent quality – all of which you can see if you visit the festival!
The Human Rights Film Network Award
Another key award, which really shows the good work the Dubai International Film Festival wants to do for the world, is the Human Rights Film Network Award. This is given to a film from the current year which has had outstanding human rights themes. While these films are usually pretty hard to watch, due to the harrowing content or shocking revelations, the awards make a point of highlighting and rewarding film makers who are documenting important modern issues which are often not well known.
People’s Choice Award
While the bulk of the awards are picked by panellists, you can play a part in deciding who wins the People’s Choice award if you attend the festival. This award is given to one film that audiences really loved out of a selection of films they have a chance to evaluate at the festival. If you feel like you could give a professional film critic a run for their money, this is one of the many times during the festival where you will get a chance to let your voice be heard!
Whether your interest in film is professional or casual, you will find a wealth of new things to discover at the Dubai International Film Festival and you will also get a chance to hear from people from the industry, talking about how and why they made their different films, documentaries and features. This really is a great event, and makes for a good time and reason to visit Dubai. The festival is held annually at the start of December so visit the official website for exact dates.
If you are interested in experiencing the Dubai film festival for yourself now is the time to start looking into Dubai holidays 2013 – get the cheapest prices by booking in advanced.
