Stars of the big screen were out in force in December as the first Dubai International Film Festival drew celebrities from Hollywood, Bollywood and the Arab world to the emirate for a showcase of some of the best in regional and international cinema.

  The six-day festival featured 76 films screened at venues throughout the city, with more than 13,000 people taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy some of the most diverse movies ever to be shown in the region.

  From the regional premiere of Control Room, a behind the scenes look at how the Al Jazeera news channel covered the war in Iraq, to Red Dust - a feature about the social situation in South Africa at the time of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings – the festival programme was as varied as the cosmopolitan make-up of the population of Dubai.

  More than 100 celebrities from East and West were in attendance, including Hollywood stars Morgan Freeman, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Orlando Bloom. Representing India’s massive film industry were celebrated director Subhash Ghai, Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha, Hari Om director Bharatbala, Bollywood/Hollywood director Deepa Mehta, acclaimed Tamil director Rajiv Menon, and actors Anil Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Fardeen Khan, Rahul Khanna, Devyani Mehta, Kiron Kher and Vijay Raaz. 

  Arab cinema also had a strong showing with 70 top-rated Arab actors, producers and directors from Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Kuwait arriving in Dubai to promote their films and interact with their audience.

  Held under the themes of cultural understanding and international harmony, the festival was organised and managed by Dubai Media City whose CEO, Abdulhamid Juma, was delighted with the response from both the film industry and members of the public who attended.

  “We have had very good feedback from around the region - from filmmakers and industry professionals who appreciated the focus on quality Arab cinema, to cinema-goers in the UAE who wanted the opportunity to see more quality cinema from around the world,” he said.

  Festival director Neil Stephenson said he hoped the foundations had now been laid for the Dubai International Film Festival to grow into a major event on the global film festival circuit.

  “This has been a week of drama, excitement, emotion, dialogue and most of all, it has been a week of cultural exchange and learning,” he said. “We expected to have some learning experiences in the first festival, but overall we are very happy with what we have achieved in our first year. The festival has enhanced Dubai’s reputation as a crossroads of world cultures and we hope it will quickly gain a reputation as the showcase of excellence for Arab cinema.”

  He added: “The overriding objectives of our Festival are big ideas, and they will take time to firmly take root and bear fruit, but judging by all the positive feedback we have received from around the world, we are confident that we have built a solid foundation upon which this festival will grow and prosper in the years ahead.”

  If box office numbers are any indication, the festival generated interest and excitement for thousands of UAE residents and visitors. Close to 30 screenings were sold out, with near capacity attendance at dozens of others.  It could also help shape the future of popular cinema in the country, with film distributors attending the festival reporting substantial interest from the public to see more world cinema, art house films and specialist documentaries on a regular basis.

  The festival also provided residents and visitors with a unique opportunity to interact with filmmakers, as well as acting as a forum for industry executives and filmmakers to engage with each other. Two of the non-film highlights of the six days included a panel discussion between leading filmmakers and students from around the UAE, and an impromptu meeting between Arab filmmakers and producers to discuss ways of future cooperation and improvements to the regional film industry.

  Filmmakers from the UAE also got to showcase their work with one day of the festival devoted to the works of five emerging Emirati directors. Comprising four short films and one feature film, the UAE Special Event section was designed to provide an overview of UAE society and the range of UAE cinema.

  Festival programmer Masoud Amralla Al Ali, who had the difficult task of selecting which local films to show, said:“ The hardest thing is when you have two beautiful films and you have to say no to one of them. I chose to present an overall view of UAE society and cinema, and that meant having to say no to many promising films and filmmakers.” 

  The four shorts he selected – Aushba’s Well, Cigarettes, Jawhara and Wet Tiles – reflected the past, present and future of the country, as well as different cinematic styles. Aushba’s Well, from Ras Al Khaimah-based director Waleed Al Shehhi, is a portrait of the natural landscape, a reflection on the nature of dreams and how they affect reality and vice versa.

  “Aushba’s Well goes back to the UAE of the 1970s, and also looks at the physical diversity of our land,” explained Amralla. “Al Shehhi is an accomplished director, and Aushba’s Well is almost poetic in the way it is composed.”

  Cigarettes is the story of a modern career woman’s conflict between her successful career as a TV presenter and her love for a man, while Jawhara, the award-winning film from Dubai director Hani Al Shaibani, tells the story of a child who struggles between two different worlds. The film won the Best Short Film prizes at the Emirates Film Competition and the Mid East Film Festival in Beirut, plus a special mention at the Carthage Film Festival. Lastly, Wet Tiles, from 22-year-old director Lamya Hussain Gargash examines a mysterious relationship between a man and a woman.

  “The Festival’s UAE Special Event is a wonderful opportunity for the UAE community and the rest of the world to see what our national filmmaking community can achieve,” Amralla said. “Wet Tiles, for example, is an entirely experimental film that evolved out of a university project while Cigarettes has a completely unique sense of humour. By choosing these films, I wanted to show that we don’t only do drama, that we make social films, light-hearted films and introspective films.”

  The feature film Unveiling Dubai was also shown at the UAE Special Event, forming part of the festival’s “Operation Cultural Bridge” flagship program. Directed by UAE national Nayla Al Khaja, the documentary-style feature depicts Dubai as seen through the eyes of a first-time visitor from the West.

  Commenting on the film, festival director Stephenson said: “In many ways, Unveiling Dubai is at the heart of the festival because it raises the question of bridging cultures, and shows how Dubai is the right place for such an initiative. What makes it even more special is that this bridge-building film has been created by a UAE woman director.”

  A total of 13 films – including 10 making their debuts in the Gulf - featured in the ‘Arabian Nights’ section of the festival, providing audiences with a taste of some of the best Arab filmmaking.  From Egypt to Morocco, Lebanon to the Netherlands, Palestine to the United States, a variety of films by Arabs and about Arabs were chosen to give festival-goers an insight into how the world perceives Arabs and how Arabs perceive themselves.

  “The festival is an opportunity to feature films that tell both sides of the story, be it by Arabs, the West or beyond,” said Amralla, who is also founder-director of the Emirates Film Competition and artistic director of the UAE Cultural Foundation. “It is from us to them, from them to us, and for them and us.”

  The selection of the Arabian Nights films was made after Amralla sat through more than 200 movies and visited 16 film festivals around the world.

  “All the Arab films chosen for the festival were selected on the basis of their content and the quality of their production,” he said. “I also tried to select a mix between big-budget films and independent filmmakers so that we support the young filmmakers of our society.”

  Amralla also made it a point to select a diversity of subjects, from serious political films to light-hearted comedies. “The world sees the Middle East as being a hotbed of politics, and only politics, but we have a sense of humour also,” he commented. “We have the same concerns as other people around the world – our families, our society, jobs, our future. I wanted to show the true image of Arabs, no matter how uncomfortable we are with them.

  “I could have chosen commercial films that don’t reflect our society accurately, but it is harder and more rewarding for our society to see those films that tell the truth, even if the truth is ugly.”

  Among the attending stars to sing the praises of the first Dubai Film Festival was Hollywood actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, who arrived in Dubai for the Middle East premiere of her film The Grudge.

  “This is my first visit to the Middle East, but I think the region is absolutely beautiful,” she said. “With all the travelling I’ve done around the world to promote this film, I can say this is my favourite place and favourite experience so far.”

Gellar praised the festival’s theme of focussing on connecting cultures, and predicted that it will not be long before the Dubai Film Festival becomes a major international event.

  “It’s going to get harder and harder to get your films into the Dubai Film Festival and to be able to come here, so I’m honoured to be here for the first one,” she said. Gellar has had some experience with bridging cultures – her film The Grudge is the first Japanese film to be entirely re-made for an American audience. The film was shot entirely in Japan, using the original Japanese director and an entirely Japanese crew, and Gellar was one of the few Americans on the shoot.

  “I think the more we can take cinema from one part of the world to another part of the world, the more cultures we can connect,” she said. “The Grudge is certainly my first contribution to doing that, and I would love to do more of it. Every time we can do that, it becomes one less bridge we have to cross.”

  The articulate and confident actress is strongly supportive of the empowerment of women through positive film and television roles, and said she would endeavour to cultivate a positive image of the Middle East in the West.

  “I will do my best to play roles that are not stereotypical of the Middle East,” she said. Even her hit television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she said, was dedicated to presenting a non-stereotypical image of young women. Instead of other shows that focused on girls clamouring to enhance their looks and be popular, the show was dedicated to conveying the message that girls and women can achieve whatever they want to.

  “Buffy was an amazing role model,” she said. “The monsters and demons she battled were metaphors for the horrors of life, and I’m very proud of the empowerment of women on that show. It really has been a valuable social lesson for many young men and women because it was not an overly violent show and dealt with topics from domestic abuse to first love in a very positive way.”

  Among the films which received the most acclaim during the festival were those looking at different aspects of the ongoing Palestinian conflict. Among them were Wall, a French study of Israel’s West Bank barrier and Private, the award-winning and suspense-filled portrayal of a Palestinian family held hostage by Israeli soldiers.

  With such a wide choice of film being screened during the festival and some of the biggest names in Arab and world cinema lending their support, the Dubai International Film Festival looks set to become a major attraction - with many film fans in the UAE already looking forward to the sequel.