It’s action time for the eighth edition of the capital’s annual film festival
Every October, the region’s cinematic storytellers take the spotlight alongside a host of international filmmakers for the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF).
Powered by twofour54, the capital’s media and entertainment hub, ADFF curates a powerful programme of films from Arab directors in competitive categories alongside screenings and world premieres from international filmmakers.
As part of the programme to establish Abu Dhabi as a creative hub, the festival helps expose emerging film directors in the region while offering a chance for resident movie lovers to experience a rather different style of cinema to what they normally experience in the multiplexes.
“Cinema is about culture and it’s a way of sending a message,” says Ali Al Jabri, Director of ADFF. “Through this important cultural event we aim to improve the audience’s taste and the way they think about cinema; to make them understand other forms of art, not just the typical commercial movies.”
Hosted from 23rd October to 1st November, ADFF 2014 celebrates ‘A World of Stories’, showcasing nearly 200 films from over 60 countries.
This year’s instalment aims to highlight the growth of the region’s film industry, showcasing the best of Arab filmmaking alongside the best in global cinema. This year, the 10-day festival will screen nine feature-length World Premieres, eight of them from the Arab World, as well as 48 short film World Premieres.
“The most important thing for ADFF is that we go step by step and make each festival better and better,” says Intishal Al Timimi, Director of Arabic Programme at ADFF.
“There are now more international agents, companies and filmmakers that believe in this festival. ADFF is putting Abu Dhabi on the map of international interest and the festival has become known around the world as one of the best in the region.”
As testament to this, the festival opens for the first time with a locally produced film by Emirati director Ali Mostafa. ‘From A to B’ follows a group of Arab youths who journey 1,500 miles from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in honour of their deceased best friend.
The highly anticipated movie is Mostafa’s second full-length feature film, after his award winning ‘City of Life’ in 2009.
Closing the festival is the Disney animation film ‘Big Hero 6’, just days after its world premiere in Tokyo. The action-packed comedy-adventure, brought to life by the team behind ‘Frozen’ and ‘Wreck-It Ralph’, tells the story of the special bond between a plus-sized inflatable robot named Baymax and robotic whizz kid Hiro Hamada. The duo joins forces with a team of crime fighters to save the city of San Fransokyo.
The cast
The ADFF 2014 line-up will showcase nearly 200 films, split into seven sections from competition categories to special programmes.
The Narrative Feature Competition includes original storytelling titles from international filmmakers. Among the line-up is ‘A Second Chance’, a new Danish thriller directed by Susanne Bier that follows a couple of detectives who come into contact with a pair of junkie parents – and their infant son.
The New Horizons Competition gives International directors the chance to showcase their first or second feature film that presents challenging ideas in a narrative work. The international premiere of South Korean film ‘Entangled’ is one of the contenders, telling the story of new parents at the peak of happiness who are struck by tragedy.
The Documentary Feature Competition includes a variety of nonfiction films that highlight current issues in the world or explore remarkable real-life stories. Titles range from ‘Dior and I’, a behind-the-scenes peak into Christian Dior fashion house with new artistic director Raf Simons at the helm, to ‘Sounds of the Sea’, an Emirati documentary following a famous sea singer who sets about on one last journey.
Meanwhile, a selection of nearly 30 narrative, documentary and animated short films by both emerging and established filmmakers from France, Germany, Bahrain, Tunisia, Argentina and beyond will be screened in the Short Film Competition section.
The highly anticipated Emirates Film Competition presented by Dolphin Energy showcases short films from both established and upcoming filmmakers from the UAE and GCC countries. This year’s selection of films represents a variety of genres with a heavy presence from female directors.
The Showcase category features a selection of 32 recently released outstanding feature films from around the world including ‘Imperial Dreams’, the story of a reformed gangster who is released from prison and strives to start a new life as a respected author and decent father to his young son; ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’, an Iranian vampire Western that tells an unusual love story; and ‘As One: The Autism Project’, a documentary revolving around the parents, children and teachers involved in a theatrical and musical initiative for children with autism. Audience members can cast their vote for the best film in the Showcase section.
Celebrating cinema in past and present, this year’s non-competitive Special Programmes line-up is dedicated to ‘The Arab Diaspora’, ‘Truffaut: The Man Who Loved Cinema’, and ‘Restored Classics’.
Emirates Film Competition
Launched in 2001, the Emirates Film Competition (EFC) was originally created to support film production in the Gulf.
The launch of ADFF a few years later naturally brought the competition to the forefront, offering an international platform for local and regional filmmakers to showcase their work.
This year, EFC features more than 50 short films across a variety of genres in the Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Student Short Narrative and Student Short Documentary categories; an impressive 37 of these films are directed by women.
“EFC started in 2001 and each year the Emirati filmmakers improve their work,” says Ali Al Jabri. “Short films are important because they create a window for directors to create and showcase their feature films.”
Among the Emirati-produced films in this year’s EFC are ‘Marwan the Boxer’ by Hassan Kiyani, Sarah Al Agroobi’s ‘Super Lochal’ and Ali Mostafa’s musical ‘Rise’.
Other eagerly awaited films by GCC directors include ‘Now Showing’ by Kuwaiti filmmaker Abdullah Al Daihani, ‘Rainbow’ by Bahraini Mahmood Al-Shaikh and ‘623’ by Qatari director Shaikha Al-Naimi.
As part of EFC’s objective to inspire film students, the initiative also hosts interviews between aspiring directors and established experts in the industry, while giving students festival exposure to help them further contribute to the region’s film industry.
The Special Programme
One of the highlights of the eighth edition of ADFF will be a Special Programme that celebrates the work of legendary filmmaker François Truffaut with a selection of the influential director’s restored films.
Noted for his role in the ‘new wave’ of influential French filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s, Truffaut remains a significant figure in the industry with 25 movies to his name.
“There are hundreds of important filmmakers but few in the world are icons,” says Al Timimi. “This is the 30-year anniversary of the French director and we feel very lucky to bring his films to a wider audience. Many of these films were made for TV so watching them on a wide screen is really special.”
ADFF 2014 pays tribute to the influential director with a selection of his best-known films including ‘The 400 Blows’, ‘Jules and Jim’, the Academy Award-winning ‘Day for Night’ and ‘The Last Metro’, a film screened at Cannes earlier this year.
The Special Programme also features a selection of short films from the Arab diaspora, filmmakers who have emigrated from their native land and found a creative outlet through film. Titles include ‘Inch’Allah Dimanche’ by Algerian director Yamina Benguigui and ‘A New Day in Old Sana’a’.
Finally, a selection of cinema classics are being revived and restored for Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014 from Sergei Parajanov’s ‘The Color of Pomegranates’ and Filipino film ‘Manila in the Claws of Light’ to family favourite ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘Rebel Without a Cause’.
The Awards
The Our World section draws attention to films that raise awareness on today’s weighty environmental issues. A jury of students from Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Institute will judge the films and choose one for the best film award.
This year’s contenders include ‘Marmato’, a Colombian film revolving around a historic mining town that’s at the centre of the billion dollar gold rush; and ‘Virunga’, a documentary following a team of park rangers fighting to protect Congo’s dwindling population of mountain gorillas.
For the second year, ADFF hosts the Child Protection Award in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior’s Child Protection Centre. As part of the award, screened films will highlight the plight of abused and neglected children while promoting ways to safeguard the world’s youth.
Films nominated for the award include ‘Cain’s Children’, a documentary about Hungarian boys who have all commited murders and now struggle to fit into society and ‘Behavior’, an award-winning film about an unruly boy who lives with
his addict mother.
For a full schedule of movies or ticket information visit: www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae
Rachael Peacock
