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Variety Presents Middle East Filmmaker of the Year Award to Asghar Farhadi and Salutes Five Arab Producers to Watch at ADFF 2011
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) is pleased to announce that
celebrated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi will receive this year's
Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year award at its ongoing
fifth edition (October 13-22). Variety Arabia, the leading
entertainment trade publication's new venture for the MENA region,
will also be hosting a special reception in honor of its Five Arab
Producers to Watch, selected in partnership with ADFF.
Farhadi is the fourth filmmaker to receive Variety's
prestigious award at the Festival.Farhadi's breakout film About
Elly had its Middle East premiere at ADFF in 2009 and Variety
recently compared the director's suspenseful psychological dramas
to those of Alfred Hitchcock. His latest film, A
Separation, is Iran's official entry for the 2012 foreign
language Oscar™ and will be screened as part of the Festival's
Narrative Competition lineup.
Renowned for his engrossing storytelling and meticulous character
development, Farhadi is one of the most accessible Iranian
art-house directors. Building on suspense and psychological depth,
his films have mesmerized audiences in Iran and all around the
world. Family crises, issues with the justice system and topics
such as gender, faith and class are recurring themes in Farhadi's
films, which often feature twisting plots and sudden changes of
perspectives, continuously challenging viewers
to question and adapt their moral judgments.
Born in Isfahan in 1972, Farhadi started out by taking courses at
the Iranian Young Cinema Society. While studying theater and film
at Tehran University, he wrote and directed plays, and made short
films, before going on to work in Iranian television. His first
feature, Dancing in the Dust (2003), won both popular and
critical acclaim, screening at festivals internationally. Farhadi
followed up with the equally successful films Beautiful City
(2004) and Fireworks Wednesday (2006), making a name
for himself one of Iran's major directors.
In 2009, Farhadi captured the attention of the film world with
About Elly, starring the fabulous Golshifteh Farahani. The
film, which which won the Berlinale's Silver Bear for best
director, tells the story of a group of young well-to-do Iranians
whose trip to the Caspian Sea quickly descends into conflict and
tragedy as the characters are confronted with their society's
culture of everyday deceit.
Farhadi's most recent work, A Separation, is one of
ADFF's highlights this year. The film's premiere at Berlin proved a
momentous triumph: it was named Best Film and its excellent
ensemble cast received both the major acting prizes - a sweep no
previous Iranian film has ever earned at a Western film festival. A
Separation is a gripping drama surrounding a secular middle-class
family that winds up in conflict with a poor religious family.
Driven by questions of loyalty, truth and honor, A Separation
shines a light on the complexities and contradictions of
contemporary Iranian society.
"Farhadi is a master of tacit commentary, whose narratives have
given us some of the most acute insights into everyday life in
Iran, on a par with - and sometimes excelling - documentaries on
the subject. He is now on his fifth feature and I can only hope he
will continue to skillfully navigate the fine line that has made
him a national treasure and an international success. His
tightly-woven and superbly casted dramas have engrossed people from
all kinds of backgrounds and we are simply delighted to welcome him
back to the Festival," said Peter Scarlet, ADFF's Executive
Director.
Variety international director Alberto Lopez: "A
Separation is a shining testament to the power of cinema to
transcend borders. Asghar Farhadi has created a universal and
unforgettable story that lingers long in the memory."
Variety's Middle East Filmmaker of the Year award will be
presented at an invitationonly event on Thursday, October 20, 12:00
noon, at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr's Saker Ballroom A.
Variety Arabia Salutes Five Promising Arab
Producers
Launched under the banner of Variety's new MENA monthly,
Variety Arabia, Five Arab Producers to Watch is a
celebration of innovative, up-and-coming producers who are notable
for their talent and fresh approach. Selected in partnership with
ADFF, the list includes producers from a variety of nationalities
and backgrounds.
Despite ongoing instability in his home country of Palestine,
Saed Andoni has become an accomplished writer,
editor, producer and director. After studying documentary
filmmaking in London, he produced documentaries, dramas, and
animation films, including Ahmed Habash's Fatenah (2009).
In 2011, he produced The Wanted 18, which received a
development grant from SANAD, ADFF's fund for Arab
filmmakers.
2011 has been busy for Moroccan producer Lamia
Chraibi. She produced Narjiss Nejjar's The Rif
Lover, Hisham Lasri's The End and Simo Achaour's The
Film. In the past, she has produced Hicham Lasri's 99, which
recently received a SANAD development grant, and Simo Achaour's
Once Upon a Father. Her current project is Michelle Medina's
documentary All I Wanna Do, about a parking guard and his
teenage son, who form a hip-hop group.
Atia Jabarah Al Daradji is known for his ability
to combine western film practice with his own self-styled,
hard-line approach. In 2009, he produced his brother Mohamed's
breakout film Son of Babylon and in 2010, the brothers
received a post-production grant from SANAD for their
co-directorial effort In My Mother's Arms, which world
premiered in Toronto last month.
Rula Nasser is passionate about telling the
stories of her home country Jordan. She started out by producing
BBC documentaries, before joining the Royal Film Commission and
later running the RAWI Sundance Screenwriters' Lab. Her first
feature, Mohammad Hushki's Transit Cities, took two awards
at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2010. Her production
company The Imaginarium focuses on developing and financing
Jordanian cinema.
Cairo-based actor, producer and director Amr
Waked starred in films such as Syriana (2005) and The
Aquarium (2008) and his production company zad has made a number of
award-winning short films, documentaries and TV campaigns. Waked is
both producer and star of his latest project, R for
Revolution, by Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim El-Batout, scheduled
for release early next year.
A special reception in honor of Variety Arabia's Five
Producers to Watch takes place on Sunday, October 16, at 9:00
p.m., at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr's Saker Ballroom A.
"Over the past four years our partnership with Variety
has gone from strength to strength and we are excited to be
expanding it through the launch of Variety Arabia's Five Arab
Producers to Watch. Variety's pioneering coverage of Middle Eastern
cinema has helped to bring international attention to some of the
great directorial talents of this region, including Nadine Labaki
from Lebanon, Amin Matalqa from Jordan, Elia Suleiman from
Palestine and Mohamed Jabarah Al Daradji from Iraq. We hope that
their new initiative will do the same for regional producers," said
Eissa Saif Rashed Al Mazrouei, Director of Special Projects for
ADACH.
For tickets and full details of the Festival's program, please
visit www.adff.ae.
Contact thePress Team