Following the first gala screening tonight, about 75 films from 27 countries will be screened at 6 festival venues over the next 5 days. Neil Stephenson, the festival director, gives Jyoti Kalsi the details
The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) opens tonight with a gala screening of the Moroccan and French co-production, Le Grand Voyage, to be attended by the film’s director Ishmael Ferroukhi and actors Nicolas Cazale and Mohammad Majd.
Over the next 5 days, about 75 films from 27 countries will be screened at 6 festival venues. The last gala screening on December 10 will be the South African film Red Dust, to be attended by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The festival lasts only 6 days, but many months of preparation have gone into organising this event. Tabloid spoke to Neil Stephenson, CEO and festival director of DIFF, to learn about the behind the scenes effort that has gone into hosting this event, which will now be an important part of Dubai’s annual cultural calendar.
Stephenson is a lawyer by training. He is also a film buff and for many years volunteered as assistant to the director of the Toronto International Film Festival.
He has an MBA from INSEAD and worked as director of business development with Turner Private Networks, Time Warner before he was appointed by Dubai Media City to this post in June 2003.
Excerpts:
Tabloid: What is the concept behind the festival?
Neil Stephenson: The idea for this event came from Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates group. As the chairman of DIFF, he visualised it as not just another film festival but one that could be a cultural bridge between the East and West via the universal language of film.
We did not aim to outdo or compete with any other film festivals or try to be all things to all people. Our primary focus was to create an event for this community with programming that is a reflection of the community and to build a platform for showcasing the best of Arab and world cinema.
Tabloid: What are your responsibilities as festival director?
NS: Every festival needs a strong government representative to provide leadership and credibility to the event and we are fortunate to have General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, as our patron and Shaikh Ahmad as the chairman of DIFF.
My responsibilities included researching and fine-tuning the theme and laying the groundwork for the event.
Deciding the festival dates was an important and time-consuming process. My first critical task was to get strong airline and hotel sponsors on board and the next was to appoint a strong programming team of people who know cinema well and have connections with filmmakers all over the world.
Tabloid: What was the criteria for selecting the films?
NS: The programme directors are experts in their fields and have scouted around the world to find a good mix of new films such as Finding Neverland and The Grudge as well as award-winning, classic and edgy films. 31 films will have their Gulf premieres and 13 will have their Middle East premiere at DIFF.
Hari Om with dialogues in Hindi, French and English, will have its International premiere here and Ocean’s Twelve will screen here a day after its world premiere in the US. We have included some older films such as Bend It Like Beckham because they are symbolically important to the themes chosen for the festival.
We also have some controversial films such as The Hamburg Cell and Control Room, because every festival should have material that is provocative, edgy and thought provoking.
With films and documentaries such as The Motorcycle Diaries, Super Size Me and The Corporation, we have a quality programme that is on par with the top festivals in the world.
Tabloid: Give us some insights into the logistics behind an inaugural event of this magnitude.
NS: It is a huge task with many aspects, from choosing an appropriate date, building good venues and training volunteers to managing the print traffic.
We have chosen venues along Jumeirah Beach to make it convenient for viewers and have also arranged free transport between venues. Four theatres have been specially built for the festival.
For the red carpet galas, we have built a spectacular Arabian style theatre at the Madinat Arena. The Madinat Theatre has been transformed into a cinema theatre with a big screen and state-of-the-art sound systems.
Similarly, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel auditorium has been converted to a movie theatre; and we have constructed an open air ‘Screen on the Green’ beside the lake at Dubai Media City.
Tabloid: How many people are working on this project?
NS: Besides our full time staff of about 60 and about 200 volunteers, we have brought in a team of experts from the Toronto International Film Festival to help us.
We have teams of theatre operations people at every venue to guide visitors and answer their queries knowledgably.
Over 400 people, including administrators, marketing experts, programmers, technical consultants, civil engineers, contractors and volunteers have worked long and hard behind the scenes.
Tabloid: What is the future vision for DIFF?
NS: We have tried to lay a solid foundation and must build on it now. We expect future events to feature more films and hope that the DIFF will soon be a major player not just in the region but internationally.
Tabloid: Will future events have a competitive section and awards?
NS: We decided against instituting an award for the first few years because we want to build our credibility before we bestow awards on others.
While Cannes, Venice and Berlin offer awards for excellence in film making, many well-established festivals such as London, Toronto and Sundance do not have major international competitions or awards. We have an open mind on the issue and will research this well to see what is best for Dubai.
Tabloid: What is the significance of this festival to Dubai?
NS: Dubai hosts well-known sporting, business and trade events, but the city has been lacking a major international cultural event.
A film festival is ideal to fill this gap because it has a chance to make a mark on the world stage fairly quickly and will definitely help tourism.
The event also offers cinema lovers in Dubai the opportunity to see good films that are not normally shown at theatres here and the chance to discuss them with the filmmakers.
We have also made an effort to include the student community through discounted student tickets and a seminar at Knowledge Village, where students will interact with famous film personalities.
Tabloid: What is the cost of organising this festival?
NS: An event of this scale costs millions of dollars, but a lot of that came in the form of free tickets and hotel rooms from our sponsors. We have paid for the movies and will provide flights and excellent hospitality to our invited guests.
But we have not paid any stars to make an appearance at the event because we do not believe in buying people to come here. We want them to come for the right reasons - because it is a good event and provides an opportunity to interact with good filmmakers and cinema lovers from around the world.
Tabloid: What has been your best moment while working on this festival?
NS: Le Grand Voyage had also been invited to be the opening film at the Marrakech festival, which also begins today.
The fact that the distributor preferred to open his film here and that two of the actors will be present at the screening is extremely satisfying. Another major accomplishment was Morgan Freeman’s presence at the festival.
When & Where
Venues:
- Madinat Arena, Madinat Jumeirah, the Arabian resort - seats 800.
- Madinat Theatre, Souk Madinat Jumeirah - seats 442.
- Mercato Cinema, Mercato Mall - five screens with 1,065 seats.
- Jumeirah Beach Hotel Auditorium - seats 416.
- Dubai Media City Amphitheatre (Screen on the Green) - seats 2,000.Free transport has been arranged between venues.
Tickets:
- Dubai ‘Red carpet’ Gala screenings at the Madinat Arena - Dh50.
- Screen on the Green at Dubai Media City – Dh10.
- Other Screenings - Dh20.
- Five Flick deal - Dh80 for any five regular screenings.
- Student discounts - half priced tickets for all main DIFF screenings upon presentation of student identification.
Box offices:
- Tickets can be bought for any screening at any of the following box offices, subject to availability:
- Mercato Cinema: 11am to 6.30pm today and 11am to 10.30pm from December 7-11.
- Dubai Media City, CNN Building lobby: 11am to 6pm today and 11am to 8pm from December 7-10.
Madinat Theatre: 11am to 9pm today and 11am to 10.30pm from December 7-11.
Madinat Arena: 6pm to 8pm on December 7 and 8: 11am to 8pm on December 9 and 10.
Jumeirah Beach Hotel Auditorium: 11am to 10.30pm from December 8 to 10.
There are standby tickets available for all screenings except the opening and closing galas, so last minute tickets maybe available even if a film is sold out.
All venues have disabled access.
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