The shooting of Star Wars: Episode VII in Abu Dhabi this year has pushed the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) to new heights among international observers, according to its director of programming Teresa Cavina.
"This year, for the first time, we're opening with an Emirati film, with Ali F Mostafa's From A to B, which was produced by Image Nation," Cavina said at the launch of this year's event, which runs from October 23 to November 1.
"For our closing film, for the first time in Abu Dhabi we're screening a big Hollywood film, the Disney animation Big Hero 6, before it opens in the United States.
"I think because Star Wars was shooting in the desert here it's put Abu Dhabi more on the map in Disney's world and beyond, and they decided this was the right place to premiere their film.
“There’s a fantastic local system here and I hope that local filmmakers will benefit from it more and more.”
Beyond the glamour of the big opening and closing-night galas, the festival boasts a packed programme. A total of 197 films from more than 60 countries will screen over the course of 10 days, including world premieres of nine feature films and 48 shorts.
Alongside the festival’s regular competitions for narrative, documentary, feature and short films from around the world, there are a number of special programmes this year.
For the second time, the festival hosts the Child Protection Award, organised in partnership with the Child Protection Centre (Ministry of Interior), with the aim of calling attention to those films that raise awareness about abused or neglected children, or promote preventive measures.
Another section is dedicated to films representing the global Arab diaspora, with highlights including Bader Ben Hirsi's acclaimed 2005 Yemeni/United Kingdom co-production A New Day in Old Sana'a, and Karim Traidia's 1998 Algerian/Dutch film The Polish Bride.
The festival will also be screening a number of restored classics including Richard Lester's 1964 Beatles vehicle A Hard Day's Night and Sergio Leone's seminal 1964 spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars.
Thanks to a partnership between ADFF and Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation/World Cinema Project, which is dedicated to preserving and restoring films from countries lacking the financial ability to do so themselves, films from Armenia (The Color of Pomegranates, 1968) and the Philippines' (Manila in the Claws of Light, 1975) will also be screening in all their restored glory.
This year, the festival will also pay tribute to the work of French cinema legend François Truffaut (1932-1984). For many, Truffaut’s work epitomised the French cinema of his age and seven of his classic films, including the ever-popular Jules et Jim, will be screened.
The Emirates Film Competition, one of the first film competitions in the UAE when it launched in 2001, also returns, offering prizes of up to Dh30,000 to UAE and GCC film makers across five categories.
Ali Al Jabri, the festival director, said: “I am excited about the broad variety in terms of topics and genres we can present at the festival. We have important films here, films of pure entertainment and joy, films that raise relevant social questions and some that stretch the boundaries of cinema itself.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae
