UAE | Heritage and Culture
World of comics comes alive in Abu Dhabi
The world of comics came alive yesterday with the opening of the First Abu Dhabi International Festival of Comic Strips at the Cultural Foundation.
- By Rania Habib, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 March 28, 2007
- Shaikh Nahyan after opening the comic strip festival at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi.
- Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: The world of comics came alive yesterday with the opening of the First Abu Dhabi International Festival of Comic Strips at the Cultural Foundation.
The four-day festival features artists from the UAE, the region, Japan, France and Belgium among others. Majed magazine, the 29-year-old UAE based magazine, is the event's local guest of honour, while Japanese manga artist Oshima is the festival's international guest of honour.
The creators of Freej, the animated series about four UAE national grandmothers that took the UAE by storm during last Ramadan, are also present at the comic-strips festival.
"When we aired our first episode, people expected something completely different," says Khalid Abu Hmidan, relationship manager for Lammtara Pictures, producers of Freej.
"People either loved it or hated it, but by the third episode, we got a great response.
"The country is opening up to animation. We are working on 15 more epi-sodes for next Ramadan, and in August we will release last year's episodes on DVDs which will be subtitled in English."
Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mub-arak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, earlier toured the festival with organisers and artists.
Prizes were awarded during yesterday's opening ceremony to artists in various categories, from professional to amateur. Shaikh Nah-yan presented awards to university and primary and secondary school students for their drawing skills.
Share this article
More from UAE Heritage & Culture
More from UAE
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
The best reader pictures from around the emirates this week
Latest news
- Burj Al Arab celebrates its 10th birthday
- Policewoman charged with stealing Dh12,000
- Discipline those reserving parking slots
- Media, employers can do more to help disabled
- Support colleagues with arthritis, doctors advise
- Music to get into the patriotic mood
- Saif: December 2 stands out in history
- Residents raise a stink over garbage collection
- Well-wishers welcome Haj pilgrims back
- Lifesavers to pit skills during Dubai event
- Lebanese singer May Hariri dedicates song to people of the UAE
- Majida El Roumi's concert a big hit
- Top movie stars likely to grace DIFF
- National Day decorations
- Girl dies in fire started by stepbrother
Community Reports
-
Discipline those reserving parking slots
Some residents in Hor Al Anz are using unauthorised methods to hold parking spaces to ransom even when they have no use for them
-
A road that is best avoided
Thoroughfare connecting capital's Hamdan Street and Electra Street poses safety and health hazards
-
Please don't use two parking spaces
Thoughtless drivers means other motorists are losing out in a city where places to leave cars are often hard to find
-
School buses must do safe drop-offs
Some bus drivers let students off at the wrong side of the road
