The red carpet shone with stars dressed in shimmering gowns and designer clothing during the 13th Dubai International Film Festival (Diff).
Diff, held at Madinat Jumeirah, began with the international premiere of the movie Miss Sloane, which is part of the Cinema of the World programme. Its director, John Madden (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), also made an appearance.
Media roundtable with "Their Finest" actor Bill Nighy, director Lone Scherfig, and producer Steven Woodley.
While many well-known stars such as Samuel L. Jackson, Jake Lacy, Ranveer Singh, Rekha and Ali Suleiman walked the red carpet, media thronged their dedicated areas, ready to interview the celebrities.
Among the enthusiastic media crowd were a group of university students waiting for an opportunity to speak to the celebs such as Anjali Bohra from Manipal University. She said the most challenging part of the coverage was trying to fit in with other media people.
“It’s really very tough because getting the stars on the red carpet to stop and give interviews to us is challenging, but we are very glad that we have been given this opportunity to be among other media channels as part of the press,” she said.
Keeping track of all the behind-the-scenes activities were members of Diff’s PR team, who managed the crowd. Harley Shearstone, a public relations intern at Hill and Knowlton Company, working for Diff, spoke about handling media requests.
“Having to juggle all these weird and wonderful requests from people and trying to accommodate them, that is the most challenging part of my job, because it’s hard to make everyone feel important,” she said.
While PR and media negotiated interview slots, fans screamed with excitement when actors appeared.
— The Young Journalist Award (YJA) at Diff is a training programme for high school students who are aspiring writers and reporters. Eight students are competing at the festival this year between December 7-14. One winner will secure a monthlong internship with Gulf News.
