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Leading Talents of Arab Cinema to Shine at Opening of ADFF 2011
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) today announced a host of
film talents expected to make an appearance on the red carpet at
Opening Night this evening. Some of the leading figures of Gulf and
Arab cinema are in Abu Dhabi to attend the glittering event, which
will be screened at the Festival's brand new waterfront cinema,
located on the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr's beach.
The opening film is Philippe Falardeau's internationally
celebrated Monsieur Lazhar, recently confirmed as Canada's official
entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Oscars™, with both
Falardeau and producer Luc Dery in attendance.
Among the talents coming to Opening Night are Mahmoud Abdel
Aziz, Khaled Abol Naga, Faris Alhilo, Bushra, Sami Kaftan and Maher
Salibi.
Some of the prominent members of the Festival's juries will also
take to the red carpet, including Egyptian actress Laila Eloui,
Iranian screen legend Fatemeh Simin Motamed-Arya, American actress,
model and athlete Aimee Mullins and French actress Marianne
Denicourt. Also among the night's prominent guests is celebrated
Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Life on Earth, Bamako),
one of the principal voices of world cinema and president of this
Festival's jury in 2008, who is holding a master class at the
Festival on Saturday, October 15, 11:30 a.m. at the Fairmont Saker
Ballroom A.
A list of talents from the Gulf countries is led by Huda Al
Khatib Janah, Dr. Habib Ghuloom, Haifa Hussein and Mohammed Al
Mansour and also includes Haya Abdelsalam, Ali Al Ali, Moza
Almazrouei, Khaled Ameen, Tarek Al Ali, Abdullah Boushahri, Mahmoud
Boushahri, Ibrahim Al Hasawi, Ahmad Iraj, Ahmad Al Jasmi, Zyna
Karam, Abdel Mohsen Nemer and Ghanem Al Sulaiti.
"The Emirates Film Competition and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival
joined forces last year in order to strengthen the ties between the
Festival and the Gulf film scene, and to project the Festival's
efforts into the region. This year, we celebrate the EFC's tenth
anniversary and we are delighted that the Festival has embraced the
soul of Gulf filmmaking through our cooperation," said Ali Al
Jabri, Director & Programmer, Emirates Film Competition.
"Among other things, festivals like ours exist to furnish a
place for the talents of the film world to gather to discuss and
celebrate each other's work. Friendships are made, ideas spawned,
plans hatched - and sometimes miracles happen. We are delighted
that many of our guests this year are brilliant, passionate
professionals - whether they are directors, writers, actors,
buyers, distributors or journalists - because they are the main
talents at the Festival," Peter Scarlet, ADFF's Executive
Director.
"This is a Middle Eastern and Arab film festival and for Opening
Night we are delighted to be welcoming a group of distinguished
actors and directors from the region, including some of the
best-known names from the Gulf. As always, our guest list also
includes outstanding Western talents, signaling a real coming
together of inspiring personalities from world cinema," Eissa Saif
Rashed Al Mazrouei, Director of Special Projects for ADACH.
Tickets and full program details are now available on
www.adff.ae.
Contact thePress Team