Critical slice of Arabian Nights

With the Dubai International Film Festival ready to get going on December 9, several hard-hitting films featuring diverse story-lines from across the Arab world have made it for the screening along with other international movies.

The line-up for the Arabian Nights include Iranian director Shahram Alidi's Whisper With the Wind, an allegorical tale of a postman travelling among the mountainous villages of Iraqi Kurdistan delivering people's messages; Christoph Heller's My Father, My Uncle, a moving documentary chronicling the life of 28-year-old Iraqi-German Sinan who travels to Sharjah to meet his long-lost family; and Cedar Boys by Serhat Caradee, a gritty film about Lebanese working class living in Australia.