DIFF sets the tone with gala lineup

Big movies and even bigger stars from the world of Hollywood and Bollywood are heading to Dubai for the sixth annual film festival.

Gerard Butler, Christina Ricci, Matt Dillon, Mandy Moore, Omar Sharif, Christopher Lambert, Jason Flemying and others will join local and regional talent for seven nights of red carpet glitz and glamour, it was announced at a press conference ahead of the festival today.

And the surprises are set to keep coming.

Rob Marshall’s highly-anticipated musical Nine will open the festival on December 9, playing to only its second audience after last week’s London premiere.

Although the cast and crew may not appear in Dubai due to the LA movie premiere being on the same night  the cast have prepared a little something with the UAE in mind. According to a source in London, a “special effort” was made to make sure Dubai was not forgotten.

The impressive international movie lineup includes Mother and Child, Broken Embraces, Disney’s latest animation The Princess and The Frog and James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar.

And while organisers say Cameron has not yet sent his RSVP, they are working on getting the entire cast and crew, including lead Sam Worthington.

Veteran Egyptian actor Omar Sharif will grace this year’s Focus on France special segment, which will be screening his latest film J’ai oublié de te dire (I Forgot To Tell You).

Flemying will attend the premiere of the UAE’s first feature film, City of Life, which was filmed in Dubai and in which he starred, while Lambert will bring some star power to the France in Focus gala premiere of his film Cartagena.

Broken Embraces leading man Lluis Homar, who stars opposite Penélope Cruz in the Pedro Almoldóvar film, will also walk the carpet.

The Indian presence is strong this year with Ranbir Kapoor set to bring Bollywood style to DIFF on December 11 for the gala screening of Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. Kapoor will be joined by Bollywood heavyweight Amitabh Bachchan, who will accept a DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award, accompanied by his son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.

Award-winning South Indian actor Mammootty will also make an appearance along with Boman Irani, Sameer Dattani and Minissha Lamba who all starred in Well Done Abba.

Christina Ricci and Matt Dillon have also confirmed to head up this year’s amfAR gala dinner, which will close with a performance by Mandy Moore.

The glittering array of Arab stars this year include Hala Sarhan, Somayya Al Kashab, Mostafa Fahmy, Habib Gholoom, Samir and Donia Ghanim, Hiam Abbas, Nelly Kareem, Elham Shaheen, Ragha Al Guedawi, Amr Waked, Rania Shawky, Sherine Adel and Khalid Taja.