In the past year, Ali Al Jabri and Teresa Cavina from the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) have been to almost every international film festival in the world — Sundance, Toronto, Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, Tribeca, you name it — all for the love of film. Well, to put it more precisely, they have been on the hunt for the best international films for screening in Abu Dhabi. After the announcement of this year’s impressive ADFF line-up, one could say they have indeed succeeded in their mission.
Running from October 23 to November 1, ADFF will screen some of the world’s top, award-winning films, including the world premiere of nine feature films. The line-up includes “Magical Girl”, which won the Golden and Silver Shells for Best Film and Best Director; “The Drop”, for which Dennis Lehane received the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the 62nd San Sebastian Film Festival; “Theeb”, recipient of Orizzonti’s Best Director award; and “Point and Shoot”, Tribeca’s Best Documentary, to name a few.
A total of 197 films from 61 countries will be screened over ten days. When asked about the selection process, ADFF Director Al Jabri said that while many of the films were picked from the submissions for the festival’s competitions, a large number of films were sought out by ADFF. He added that years of hard work had finally paid off and the festival had made a name for itself. “The networking, where we meet filmmakers, producers, people in the industry … this is all part of it,” Al Jabri said. “Today, we’ve reached a point where filmmakers want their films to be part of the festival ... We’re very happy and proud of that.”
However, this year, the festival will be making history as it opens for the first time, with a locally produced film — “From A to B” — by Emirati director Ali Mustafa and Image Nation Abu Dhabi. Famed for the award-winning 2009 film “City of Life”, Mustafa’s second full-length feature film follows three Arab youths who travel 2,400 kilometres from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in memory of their best friend who passed away five years earlier.
“It is a huge honour for us and we’re very proud to be presenting an Emirati film for the festival’s opening,” Al Jabri said.
Also, for the first time in the Arab world, the festival will screen a selection of restored films by the late legendary French filmmaker François Truffaut. The week of the festival coincides with the 30th anniversary of Truffaut’s passing.
“He’s a great master of cinema. In the history of cinema there has never been a name like François Truffaut,” said Teresa Cavina, director of programming at ADFF. The selected titles include Academy Award-winning “Day for Night” and “The Last Metro”. The latter was screened in Cannes earlier this year as part of the Cannes Classics segment.
The festival has also announced a collaborative initiative with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation/ World Cinema Project (WCP), in which two newly restored international films — Sergei Parajanov’s “The Color of Pomegranates” and Lino Brocka’s “Manila in the Claws of Lights” — will be screened. The WCP will be hosting a workshop at ADFF to educate filmmakers on film preservation.
As the festival gets ready to kick off its eighth edition, it is evident that it has been able to create a strong following in Abu Dhabi. Last year, ADFF attracted more than 35,000 filmgoers. This year, ADFF anticipates the number to be even higher. “The audience is increasing each year and they look forward to it. They really look forward to watching the films we present,” Cavina said, adding that the programme this year has expanded by almost 12 per cent compared to last year and tickets are already selling by the thousands online. “And the festival hasn’t even started yet,” she said.
Samia Badih is a writer and filmmaker based in Abu Dhabi. You can tweet her @SamiaBadih.
To find out more information about the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, including films, timings and workshops, please visit www.adff.ae.
