MESSAGE FROM THE HONORARY CHAIRMAN

We were delighted to introduce to the Dubai landscape in 2004 a new cultural event celebrating excellence in the universally loved medium of filmed entertainment. Film is an ideal tool for trying to enhance cross-cultural understanding around the world.
This is the very purpose and theme of Dubai’s film festival, which seeks to build new international cultural bridges at a time in world history when the need for bridge-building is ever more necessary and important.
Indeed, I hope that our festival can make a contribution, however small, towards promoting peace and understanding on the international stage.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum
Chairman of Emirates Group,
Honorary Chairman, Dubai International Film Festival

DIFF has positioned itself as one of the world’s premier showcases for discovering state-of-the-art Arab filmmaking, while it continues to the show a wide selection of international films to its local audiences.

We hope that our festival can serve to facilitate a constructive global discourse on important world issues, using the medium of film.”

“DIFF is an event that incorporates the entire city, from local artists to local businesses. Dubai is not only the commercial and leisure capital of the region, but also a beacon for change and progress in the Middle East. Nothing demonstrates our hopes for dialogue and cross-cultural interaction like DIFF.”

Abdulhamid Juma
Deputy Director General, Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority,
Chairman, Dubai International Film Festival

Dubai International Film Festival
December 9 - 16, 2007

What is DIFF?
In 2004, the Dubai International Film Festival launched with its theme of ‘Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds.
‘Going into its fourth year, DIFF is held under the Honorary Chairmanship of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. DIFF is a not-for-profit cultural event, presented and organized by the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority.
Reflecting Dubai’s cosmopolitan and multicultural character, the festival showcases a wide selection of features, shorts and documentaries from around the world.
DIFF aims at establishing itself as a major international festival, while continuing to act as a platform for showcasing excellence in Arab Cinema and simultaneously contributing to the development and growth of the regional industry and talent.
As one of the world’s fastest growing business and tourist destinations, Dubai provides an ideal meeting point for industry friends and colleagues from around the globe. DIFF creates an exciting atmosphere for exchanging ideas among a group of progressive film industry professionals. Moreover, the networking initiatives hosted by DIFF provide participants and guests a favourable setting for conducting business.

DIFF Programmes
The 2007 edition of the Dubai International Film Festival features 9 programmes that will showcase cinema of all genres from all over the world.
Selected films will be placed in the appropriate programme by DIFF management in consultation with the filmmaker. While DIFF welcomes international submissions, it should be noted that the non-Arab section of the festival is limited to only 60 films and presently does not include short films.

The Cultural Bridge
The Cultural Bridge programme is one of the most important sections of DIFF. The new millennium has seen a significant increase in conflict and misunderstanding between the Islamic and broader Western worlds.
The Cultural Bridge section features a selection of features and documentaries from around the world, telling stories or describing events that serve to break down the walls of inter-racial prejudice and intolerance, thereby helping stimulate dialogue and building cross-cultural bridges.
To this end, the programme will be complemented by a high-profile panel discussion exploring cinema’s role in building these bridges and exploring the festival’s motto and overall ambition of: ‘Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds’

Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights programme is an out of competition section showcasing a collection of features, short films and documentaries. The selection of feature films by the world’s best Arab and Non-Arab filmmakers is testimony to the talent and creativity within contemporary Arab cinema.

A Celebration of Indian Cinema
A Celebration of Indian Cinema is a new focus within the international programme and is designed to reflect the strong links between Dubai and India, a country which has a long tradition of popular and great cinema.
The section will not only feature the latest attractions from one of the world’s most prolific producers of entertainment - Bollywood - but will also showcase a broad range of the finest works from the independent cinema movement within India.

The Cinema of the World
The Cinema of the World programme will feature a selection of the most important and original new films from North and South America, Australasia, Turkey, Iran and Europe.

The Cinema of Asia
The Cinema of Asia section will offer a broad spectrum of important and recent films emerging from South Asian countries - Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - and from the film producing countries of East and South East Asia including South Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines.

The Cinema of Africa
The Cinema of Africa programme will continue to present the little seen, but extremely rich, diverse and challenging films from the African continent, south of the Sahara.

Destination Documentary
The Destination Documentary segment recognises the importance of the documentary format. DIFF presents a selection of non-fiction works, distinctive in form and from some of the most daring film-makers. This section features non-Arab documentaries from around the world touching on some of the most urgent social, political and ecological issues.

Emerging Emiratis
The Emerging Emiratis programme is an important component of DIFF and features out of competition Arab cinema by UAE filmmakers. The films are selected from the growing talent pool of emerging young UAE national filmmakers. The programme aims to serve as a platform for promising new Emirati filmmakers to share their work with the international film community attending DIFF.

Children’s Cinema
The Children’s Cinema section presents a selection of films appealing to children of all nationalities. Going beyond Hollywood, the selected works are from around the world and representative of different cultural backgrounds, but share a common factor in their universal appeal of entertaining children.

Watch the highligths of 2006 edition Click to start the video

Dubai International Film Festival
Filmfestivals.com's link to Dubai Film Festival :