IMAX festival Dubai: where size does matter, sometimes

Dubai Film & TV Commission (DFTC) has confirmed its support of the IMAX Film Festival, with the screening of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. DFTC is supporting the nine day event alongside Dubai Studio City and Dubai International Film Festival.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol works very well on the very big screen. Courtesy Paramount Pictures

Anyone who watched Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol in IMAX should appreciate the terrifying power of the giant screen cinematic experience (in particular that bit where Tom Cruise steps outside the Burj Khalifa from a window rather high up).

For those who think they can handle it again (or perhaps missed out on the opportunity to gasp audibly into their popcorn the first time around), the people behind the IMAX theatre at Dubai's Meydan are bringing the film back again as part of the region's first IMAX Film Festival, which kicked off on Friday.

"It's been an adventure," says the event organiser Fereshteh Amarsy. "We wanted to bring back blockbusters and introduce other films from the IMAX world."

Alongside MI4, the nine-day festival is screening major big-screen names such as The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises, Avatar and Skyfall. But there are also lesser-known titles including documentaries such as Hubble 3D, Legends of Flight 3D, Super Speedway, Wild Ocean 3D and Journey to Mecca, the Ben Kingsley narrated film charting the real-life pilgrimage made by Ibn Battuta in 1325.

Amarsy admits that getting the programming right proved challenging. "We only have a certain number of platters and reworked the schedule a few times to accommodate all the films. The Dark Knight Rises is so long it barely fits on its own platter."

For details of the films and to book tickets, visit www.meydanimax.com

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