'Something for everyone'

Organisers of the third Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) are hoping to boost attendance figures at the event by more than 15 per cent compared to last year.

Neil Stephenson, the event's chief executive, said he hoped about 35,000 tickets would be sold or given away for the eight-day festival — up from 30,000 at the 2005 gathering.

If the predictions are achieved, it would make the 2006 DIFF twice the size of the inaugural event in 2004, for which 18,000 tickets were distributed.

Stephenson said 102 films would be showing between December 10 and 17 this year — up from 98 at DIFF last year.

Bigger than Cannes

"If you look at some of the other big international film festivals like Cannes, that has only three or four different sections and only 70 or 80 films, so we have more than them.

"And we want to show edgy and provocative films that the audience wouldn't otherwise get to see," Stephenson said.

The final line-up of films will not be announced until November, but Stephenson said that 47 of the films scheduled were from the Arab region and the other 52 came from all parts of the world including the Indian subcontinent, North America and Europe.

"There will be a few more Arab films but not a huge percentage more. We will have a very strong representation from all parts of the world, as in previous years.

"We'll have something for Asians — there is the Cinema of the Subcontinent section — and Europeans, as well as those who like Arab cinema. There will be something for everyone," he said.

A-listers

And just as previous events have attracted big-name stars such as Morgan Freeman, so Stephenson is expecting a few Hollywood A-listers, some of Bollywood's biggest names and top actors and actresses from the Arab film industry.

"We hope to get some really interesting people to come, although it's very early to say at the moment. A lot of these big names don't know their schedule until the very last moment," Stephenson said.

The first DIFF, held in December 2004, featured 76 films, while last year's had 98 films, from a total of 46 countries.

Dont miss it!

The third Dubai International Film Festival will be held between 10 and 17 December 2006.