Monday, Oct 07, 2013
Dubai: Modern Arab life, especially that of its young people, will be in the spotlight at the tenth Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) this December.
The Arabian Nights segment will screen 18 films out of competition that feature Arab themes, with a selection of films announced on Monday focusing on works made by international filmmakers looking at the about the immigrant and refugee experience.
French filmmaker and writer Mohammad Hamidi’s feature debut, Homeland, stars comedian Jamel Debbouze and Tewfik Jallab in a dramedy about a young French-Algerian student sent to Algeria by his sick father, finding himself in a country where he has never set foot, whose language he does not speak — exactly like his father in France.
Spanish film Slimane, by José A. Ayalón, is a documentary-style drama about young Arab immigrants in Spain. The role are all played by first-time actors. Meanwhile French documentarian Axel Salvatori-Sinz followed five Palestinian refugees living in the refugee camp of Yarmouk, in Syria in The Shebabs of Yarmouk.
“The core of our mandate has always been to provide a platform for Arab cinema to take its place on the world stage. For our tenth year, Arabian Nights has been carefully curated to bring a wide array of the freshest, most engaging films that give voice to the dynamism of this region,” said Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Diff’s artistic director.
Corsican director Thierry de Peretti based his film Apaches on an event that took place on the island a few years ago; it features Franco-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid in an important role. Mario Rizzi’s Al Inthitar (produced by the Sharjah Art Foundation) is a documentary filmed during a seven-week stay in Camp Zaatari, the Syrian refugee camp in the Jordanian desert, focusing on Syrian women.
American actor Sean Gullette wrote and directed Traitors, set in Tangier, starring Chaimae Ben Acha, who plays Malika, a conservatively-dressed student and call-centre worker by day, and the leader of an all-girl punk band by night.
Staff Report
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