Red carpet gala of ‘The Way Back’ (Dec. 15) at the Dubai International Film Festival Celebrities who attended were Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Phone Booth, Minority Report) Ed Harris (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Appaloosa), Jim Sturgess (Heartless, 21, The Other Boleyn Girl), Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, City of Ember, The Lovely Bones), Mark Strong, Dragoş Bucur, and Gustaf Skarsgård. The film is an Exclusive Media Group, National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation...

Industry buyers at DIFF will have one of the strongest repertoires of films to choose from including 103 films screened at DIFF, 43 films from the Gulf Film Festival, and 78 Filmmart-recommended films. The line-up includes 23 world premieres, 6 international Premieres, 37 Middle East premieres, and 21 GCC premieres. Ziad Yaghi, Director, Dubai Filmmart, said the trading and distribution platform has grown considerably over the past years by successfully accomplishing distribution deals fo...

The award introduced in 2009, is aimed at encouraging and promoting films that address human rights issues. At DIFF 2010, 10 films will vie for the honours. Judging the submissions for the HRFN award is Kebour Genna of the Addis International Film Festival; Taco Ruighaver, Director, the Movies that Matter Festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Syrian filmmaker Sawsan Darwaza, whose films depict the harsh realities of life in strife-torn areas of the Middle East yet with a powerful messag...

Screening on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 10 pm at Cinestar 9, Mall of the Emirates (MoE), is director Shuchen Tan’s ‘Baghdad Film School.’ The film is about Iraqi born filmmakers Maysoon Pachachi and Kasim Abid who developed the challenging idea to open up the first independent film school in Iraq. With a car loaded with video equipment, they undertook their dangerous journey from Amman to Baghdad and in March 2004 they opened up the doors of their school. Their mission was to give a voice to ...