It’s going to be one big fat Diff. As the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) marks its 10th year this year, organisers are pulling out the big guns in the form of A-list stars and acclaimed films all coming together when celebrations begin on December 6 at the Madinat Jumeirah.
Because there’s going to be a lot going on over the nine days, we’ve picked our highlights, from films to stars and events, in one easy-to-digest list.
The stars
Martin Sheen leads the list of top stars this year as he is set to be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award on opening night.
The actor, who shot to stardom with Francis Ford Coppola's acclaimed film Apocalypse Now, will also interact with fans at an ‘In conversation with…’ session on December 8. Guest of the festival Zac Efron, making his Dubai debut, will appeal to teenage filmgoers, while Cate Blanchett is returning this year to head the IWC Filmmakers Award jury. Also spot The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara, Mark Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk in The Avengers, and Andy Serkis, peformance capture artist known for his roles as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings series and Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Organisers told tabloid! that the list of talent will be added to in the coming days, with the stars of Out Of The Furnace — that’s Christian Bale and Casey Affleck — likely to attend their film’s screening at 5pm on December 12.
Oscar nominees include Indian director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen) and August: Osage County’s Abigail Breslin, who in 2006 became the fourth-youngest nominee for best supporting actress at the Oscars for Little Miss Sunshine. Other actors include Michael Pena, presenting his latest film, American Hustle, the festival’s closing film, and Michael B. Jordan, earning critical acclaim with his film Fruitvale Station.
Indian stars confirmed so far include Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor. Indie film favourite Irrfan Khan, undoubtedly one of the country’s biggest Hollywood exports, and his co-stars in the critically-acclaimed The Lunchbox – Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqi -- will walk the red carpet with their film. Bollywood’s Javed Jaffrey will host the premiere of Dubai-set film Champ of the Camp, a film about UAE workers in a singing contest. Winners of the contest will also attend the film’s screening.
From the Arab world, it’s going to be the cream of the crop with Diff regulars, Egyptian stars Yousra, Nelly and Hassan Yousuf, as well as Ezzat Al Alaily, Nadia Al Gendy, Samira Ahmad, Yousuf Shaaban, Abdul Rahman Abouzahra, Ahmad Bider, Khalid Saleh, Samy Al Adl, Mahmoud Kabil, Hassan Mustafa, Mimi Gamal, Mohammad Sa’ad, Sherine Adel and Monther Ryahnah. Turkish actress Meltem Cumbu will also attend.
The films
With 174 feature films, shorts and documentaries — many of them this year’s Oscar contenders — screening at two locations, it might be a bit difficult to fit it all in nine days.
But if you watch only one film, don’t miss Omar, the festival’s opening gala, by Oscar-nominated Palestinian director Hany Abu Assad. The film, which won acclaim at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, is funded by Diff and is Palestine’s official entry in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars. Abu Assad was nominated in 2006 for the his film Paradise Now, which incidentally, also opened Diff on its second year.
The festival’s closing film, American Hustle, on December 14, brings together the team from the multi-nominated Silver Linings Playbook, led by director David O. Russell and a high-profile cast including Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis CK and Robert De Niro. This will be the film’s first festival screening.
For the first time, there will be two daily red carpet galas at the Madinat Jumeirah (tickets for red-carpet galas cost more than regular screenings. Refer to ‘The tickets’ for details). The second day of Diff will see the Disney animation film Frozen in the afternoon and the acclaimed August: Osage County, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. On December 8, Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, starring Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin will screen ahead of Factory Girl by Mohammad Khan, the festival’s Arabian Gala.
On December 9, Oscar-bait drama 12 Years A Slave, by Steve McQueen, featuring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt, will be shown in the afternoon, while Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station with Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer, will have a gala opening with Jordan in attendance.
Ben Stiller directs and stars in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, screening on December 10, ahead of Justin Chadwick’s Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris, which Harris will attend.
On December 11, Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson share the screen in John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr Banks before the Indian Gala with the film everyone’s talking about this year: The Lunchbox. Stars Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be in attendance, along with director Ritesh Batra.
The Coen brothers’ latest, Inside Llewyn Davis, starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman and Justin Timberlake, preludes Laila Marrakchi’s Rock The Casbah, featuring Hiam Abbass, Nadine Labaki, Lubna Azabal, Morjana Alaoui and Omar Sharif.
Words & Pictures with Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche follows the prestigious Muhr Awards Ceremony on December 13.
The awards
Diff’s Muhr Awards will this year include 90 films, its biggest ever, with prizes worth Dh2.1 million across three categories — Muhr Emirati, Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica. The line-up this year was selected from 3,500 submissions from 143 countries.
Arabic features will also be eligible for other global awards including the FIPRESCI International Prize of the Critics Award.
Selecting the winners is down to the juries and their presidents: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jim Sheridan, acclaimed Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour (whose film Wadjda releases in the UAE this Thursday) and veteran Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah.
On the money side, the Dubai Film Market, the business centre of the festival, will showcase 20 films supported by Enjaaz, Diff’s post-production funding arm, and a further three films supported by the Dubai Film Connection.
The events
The star-studded One Night to Change Lives charity event, in partnership with Dubai Cares, is back this year and will benefit Oxfam’s work in Syria. This year’s 007-themed event, on December 11, will see high-profile items including a car driven by James Bond in Skyfall going under the hammer.
For the second year, Oxfam global ambassador Scarlett Johannsson has donated a lot: VIP tickets to her new film, Captain America 2, including flights to the premiere city, which has not been confirmed. Bond girls Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris, Bollywood star Arjun Rampal, his wife Mehr Jessia and Rahul Bose are on the guestlist.
Getting up close and personal with the stars is a highlight of the festiva. The hottest tickets are the ‘In Conversion With…’ Q&A sessions, where fans can quiz the stars in person. While the full list of sessions is yet to be announced, we can confirm that Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor will hold a session on December 13 for their film Gunday, where they will also unveil the trailer of the film.
Other sessions set to be crowd-pullers are Beyond the Oscars, and An Academy Conversation on Directing, led by a delegation from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) — the people who hand out the Oscars. Inviting the AMPAS was also a way of educating them about Arab film, organisers tell us.
The venues
The main festival, along with red carpet galas, will be held at the Madinat Jumeirah. Ticketed screenings are at the Madinat Theatre in Souk Madinat Jumeirah and at Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates. Free screenings, called Screen on the Green, at the Burj Park in Downtown Dubai will start from December 7.
The tickets
The Diff box office will open online on Thursday, November 28, at dubaifilmfest.com. Tickets are Dh30 (adults) and Dh10 (students and children) for all regular screenings. Galas are Dh80 while children’s galas are Dh50. Tickets will also be available from box office locations at Madinat Theatre in Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Internet City, Bldg 3.
Ticket hotline: 04-3633456.
There’s also a ‘Friends of the Festival’ package, which includes exclusive access to the festival’s events.
Tickets to the One Night to Change Lives charity event to benefit Oxfam and Dubai Cares are Dh2,000 per person. Call 04-445 6842 or email RSVP@urbanevents.ae.
Diff will run from December 6 to 14. For a full schedule, go to dubaifilmfest.com
