Stars come to shine

No matter what the film line-up, the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) always manages to pull in the A-listers.

This year is no exception, with Colin Firth, Sean Penn, Colin Farrell and Ed Harris the main attractions at the seventh edition of the annual event.

It's the leading festival of the Arab world, Africa and Asia, with a line-up of 157 films from 57 countries. Taking place from today until December 19 at the Madinat Jumeirah, there are 41 world premieres, 13 international premieres, 58 Middle East premieres and 32 Gulf premieres.

But this year organisers have gone a step further, having introduced a Muhr Emirati awards. Already boasting an outstanding array of contemporary Arab cinema, the new edition attracted hundreds of entries from UAE filmmakers. Almost half the Diff 2010 films, 70 to be precise, are by or about Arab people, subjects and places.

Penn, a celebrated actor, director and activist, will receive the Diff 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award while Firth will accompany the opening film, The King's Speech. Farrell, Harris, Jim Sturgess and Peter Weir are in Dubai for the red carpet gala screening of The Way Back. Beau Garrett comes for the closing gala, Tron: Legacy, and Andrey Konchalovsky and Julia Vysotskaya for the Cinema for Children gala The Nutcracker in 3D.

More stars

Other international stars who have sent back the RSVP include French A-list actor Jean Reno, An Education's Carey Mulligan, Africa's Souleymane Cisse and Arab stars Khaled Abol Naga, Bushra, Nelly Karim, Saba Mubarak, Ayman Zeidan, Samar Sami and Raghda.

Bollywood will be represented by producer, director and presenter Karan Johar and actress, director Aparna Sen, who will also bring her film Iti Mrinalini (An Unfinished Letter).

As well as the stars, a major effort has also been made to improve links between the festival and community. Festival community connections include the popular The Walk at JBR as a new Diff venue, a series of technological improvements, and more opportunities for the public to access the films and talent. A public fanzone has been discussed for several years and will this year allow non-ticket holders to catch a glimpse of the stars.

The Walk at JBR venue will host the Festival's Rhythm and Reels screenings and concerts and will also bring audiences closer to the red carpet with a free tandem broadcast of the Diff 2010 gala opening at the Madinat Jumeirah.

There will also be a free screening of The King's Speech today.

The red carpet events this week include the Arabian gala screening of 678, controversial Egyptian love story Cairo Exit, Polish film Tomorrow Will Be Better, Emirati short The Philosopher from the Muhr competition, and Chinese martial arts flick Reign of Assassins.

Diff at your fingertips

Watch trailers, read summaries, check show times and venues, buy tickets and post information straight to your Facebook or Twitter page with the new, improved Diff mobile phone application.

Developed by Nokia, the multi-platform free app is compatible with all Symbian-enabled, BlackBerry and Android phones as well as iPhones and iPads.

All you have to do is go to dubaifilmfest.com on your internet-enabled mobile device, click on "Download Application", fill in the required details and select the correct version for your device.

Why do we care about...

Colin Firth

Mr Darcy. Enough said. But if you do want more there are few actors who have ever burrowed as deeply into the female psyche as Firth. I don't know many women who can quite control herself when his name is mentioned.

Sean Penn

Seldom has cinema seen a more controversial figure than Penn. Before he hooked up with and married Madonna, he looked set for a mighty mainstream career, but instead spent most of his days avoiding the paps (unsuccessfully). Quitting acting altogether, he reinvented himself as an art-house director and things haven't been so bad since.

Colin Farrell

Known more for his sex scandals than his films (well, almost), Farrell is single if you believe what the papers say: that he "split" from girlfriend and mother of his child Alicja Bachleda-Curus. Tread carefully ladies.