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Launched in 2004, the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has grown steadily since then in the scope of its programming and content of film screenings, and is now the premier film festival in the Gulf region. Although young in comparison to the more well established Cairo and Jerusalem and Haifa Film Festivals – all three of which have screened films for over thirty years - it has taken a prominent place in Middle East film culture and has become a significant resource and place of creative activity for Arab producers.
Some of the innovative programs offered by the Dubai Film Festival include the Dubai Film Connection (DFC), a co-production market initiative which provides Arab filmmakers with support and opportunities to develop their work. Selected filmmakers are invited to Dubai to meet with industry professionals to enable them to brainstorm, network, and tap into available resources to bring their visions of film to life. Here seminars, panel discussions, and awards to filmmakers round out three days of one-to-one meetings between the filmmakers and industry professionals and since 2007, 64 films in development have been given a platform to seek out investment at the Dubai Film Connection events.
[inset_left]Undoubtedly, the Dubai International Film Festival contributes vitally to the cultural life of the Middle East and the Arab world[/inset_left]This year’s screenings at the Festival offered a rich and diverse array of films. Highlights included Mexican Suitcase (Trisha Ziff), a movie about a suitcase discovered after World War 2 containing over 4500 negatives of photos shot by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and David Seymour - who covered the Spanish Civil War - and Corpo Celeste (Alice Rohrwacher) portraying a Catholic girl in the Italian town of Calabria discovering the complexities of individual identity, faith, and community. No More Fear (Mourad Ben Cheikh) offers a grassroots perspective on Tunisia’s Arab Spring, focusing on the experiences of human rights activists and bloggers protesting the Ben-Ali regime, and Turtles Do Not Die of Old Age (Hind Benchekroun, Sami Mermer) depicts three elderly Moroccans, a fisherman, innkeeper, and street musician as they continue their lives despite the increasing challenges brought on by the ageing process.
Other highlights include the Argentinean film Las Acacias - describing an unusual road trip from Paraguay to Buenos Aires and the relationship that evolves between the truck driver and a woman he has agreed to take along. Also Werner Herzog’s Into the Abyss which deals with the issue of the death penalty in the United States, looking at the death row inmates, and surviving relatives of individuals killed by those now on death row.
Noteworthy for the festival this year is its charity gala in partnership with Oxfam. The Dubai Cares and Oxfam charity gala raises funds for development projects around the world that both organizations pursue. Dubai Cares focuses on expanding access to primary education including providing for access to clean water, adequate nutritious meals, and basic healthcare such as deworming programs. Oxfam pursues development holistically, addressing a wide range of human welfare issues including healthcare, housing, education, disaster relief, and poverty reduction. This humanitarian event is unusual for a film festival and will make a tangible contribution to development efforts.
The charity gala does, however, raise potentially awkward questions for Oxfam which campaigns against ‘poverty and injustice’ and which appears willing to benefit from the fundraising potential of the United Arab Emirates and from close ties to its government (the patron of the event is the wife of the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai) despite well documented human rights violations which Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the US State Department and other organizations have urged the UAE government to address.
To its credit, the government has addressed some of these issues – particularly as they relate to the health, safety, and labor rights of workers but there is still a great deal of room for improvement and a range of areas in which human rights protections fall short of the UAE’s obligations to international human rights law.
Still, it is often through film that the voices of diverse and marginalized individuals and people are amplified and receive attention and respect. Undoubtedly, the Dubai International Film Festival contributes vitally to the cultural life of the Middle East and the Arab world by providing a platform for films that engage in social critique and commentary, that challenge, sensitize, and inspire empathy for the vulnerable and disadvantaged and greater awareness of social needs and social issues, inequalities and injustices.
The fruits of the festival are now ripe and ready – but they are patiently seeded, nurtured, and grow long before and after the lights dim and the magic of cinema creates worlds in which we are invited to immerse ourselves on the silver screen.
