There's a feast of French film coming up this month at the fifth edition of the Francofilm Festival. The films being screened this year are: Samba, which screened at last year's Dubai International Film Festival; Two Days, One Night, starring Marion Cotillard, and Fevers, both of which were on the bill of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival; the Tunisian film Yasmina Ou Les 60 Noms de L'Amour; the French Documentary Il Etait Une Foret (Once Upon A Forest); Assistance Mortelle (Fatal Assistance), another documentary, this time from Haiti; and the Canadian film La Petite Reine. All films will be subtitled in English and accompanied by a short film made by an Emirati director who took part in the last year's FEMIS filmmaking exchange programme. The Festival runs from March 18 to 21 at Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai For more information, visit www.if-uae.com. - The National staff
A funny way to celebrate Women’s Day
Celebrate International Women's Day with a smile at a special comedy show featuring members of Funny Girls, the Region's first all-female stand-up comedy troupe, founded in 2010 by Dubomedy. Headlining the event will be Mina Liccione, described as "the UAE's Queen of Comedy". Her long list of credits includes appearances on Broadway, MTV, Cirque, MBC, the BBC and at the Edinburgh Fringe. She recently performed a five-show run in New York with Judah Friedlander, a star of the TV comedy 30 Rock. She was included in Rolling Stone's "This year's funniest people" issue and was nominated for an Emirates Woman of the year Award. The line-up on Friday also includes Gabi Pezo, Jill Saydam and Sophie Samuelian. The show, at Jazz & Fizz, Sofitel Luxury Hotel, in Abu Dhabi starts at 8pm – and men are welcome. For reservations please call 04 313 2977 or email contact@hartglobalmanagement.com - The National staff
Morocco cashes in on Foreign films
Last year was a record year for spending by foreign film companies in Morocco, with a six-fold increase in the amount spent in the country to make movies. On the final day of the National Film Festival in Tangiers, Sarim Fassi-Fihri, the head of the film commission, said that 38 foreign productions had spent US$120 million in 2014. That is more than the last five years put together. Foreign film companies spent only $22 million in 2013. Fassi-Fihri attributed the increase to the presence of experienced film crews and stable politics. Morocco's largest visiting film production last year was Mission: Impossible 5, which closed a major motorway between Marrakech and Agadir for weeks during the shoot. The next biggest was NBC's 12-episode biblical series A.D. The Bible Continues. Morocco's mountains and deserts have frequently been used as backdrops for modern Middle East thrillers and biblical epics. Scenes for American Sniper and Spectre, the next James Bond film, were also filmed there. - AP
