FROM A TO B

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) will open, for the first time, with a locally produced film – FROM A TO B by Emirati director Ali Mostafa and Image Nation Abu Dhabi. The closing film of the festival has been confirmed as Disney’s animation film BIG HERO 6, directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. The Festival will open on October 23 and will last until November 1, 2014.

Famed for the award winning 2009 film CITY OF LIFE, Mostafa’s second full length feature film follows three Western-educated Arab youths who travel 1,500 miles from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in memory of their deceased best friend, who passed away five years earlier.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios and the team behind Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, comes Big Hero 6, an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax a plus-sized inflatable robot, and robotic prodigy Hiro Hamada who join forces with a team of crime fighters to save San Fransokyo.  

The festival also announced the full line up for the 2014 edition, which can be found on the Festival’s website adff.ae.

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) 2014, will feature seven world premieres of Arab films as part of its showcase of best-in-class Arab and international cinema.  Now in its eighth year, the festival will also host a special programme called “The Arab Diaspora” and the Emirates Film Competition (EFC), which will exclusively showcase productions by Khaleeji filmmakers.

EL OTT

The Narrative Competition will present five Arabic films. EL OTT, a SANAD supported co-production between Egypt and the UAE, will make its world premiere during the festival. Directed by Ibrahim Elbatout, it is centered around an Egyptian gangster and set in the organ traffic milieu.

FEVERS

Other SANAD supported films featured in the Narrative Competition are FEVERS by Hicham Ayouch (Morocco, France, UAE, Qatar) and THE VALLEY, by Lebanese director Ghassan Salhab. THE VALLEY is a co-production between Lebanon, France, Germany, Qatar and the UAE and recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Additionally in this category, Mauritanian Director, Abderrahmane Sissako, will present his latest film TIMBUKTU, which was co-produced with France and Qatar. The fifth Arab film to be featured in the competition is the Iraqi-German co-production MEMORIES ON STONE by Shawkat Amin-Korki.

The New Horizons Competition, with a total of four Arabic productions, will feature the world premiere of FROM A TO B by Emirati Director Ali Mostafa’s, which will open this year’s Abu Dhabi Film Festival. This section will also host the world premiere of Iraqi production SHEPHERD’S SILENCE by Raad Mushatat.

SANAD supported title THEEB by Jordanian Director Naji Abu Nowar is also among the selected films. It recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director. Also being screened in this section is THE MAN FROM ORAN by French-Algerian director Lyès Salem as international premiere.

PIRATES OF SALÈ

In the Documentary Competition, seven out of 17 titles are Arab produced films. This section will feature four world premieres: UM GHAYEB by Nadine Slaib (Egypt, UAE), QUEENS OF SYRIA by Yasmin Fedda (Lebanon, Jordan, UK, UAE), PIRATES OF SALÈ by Merieme Addou and Rosa Rogers (Morocco, United Kingdom, France, UAE), and Emirati production SOUNDS OF THE SEA by Nujoom Al Ghanem. All four films have received support by SANAD.

RETURN TO HOMS

Also participating in the Documentary Competition is the winner of this year’s Sundance Festival, the Syrian-German co-production RETURN TO HOMS by director Talal Derki. The line-up includes IRAQI ODYSSEY, the latest film by Swiss-Iraqi director Samir, as well as THE WANTED 18 by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, which has been showcased at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014 and now celebrates its international premiere in Abu Dhabi.

Notably, this year’s ADFF will host an entire programme dedicated to Arab directors who migrated from their homelands and speak of their heritage and culture through the expressive art of film. Within this framework called THE ARAB DIASPORA, programmed by Intishal Al Timimi, the Festival unites nine long feature films and three short films, among them Swedish-Lebanese director Josef Fares’ JALLA! JALLA! (2000), INCH’ALLAH DIMANCHE by Algerian-French director Yamina Benguigui (2001), THE POLISH BRIDE by Algerian-Dutch director Karim Traidia (1998) and SALUT COUSIN! by Algerian-French director Merzak Allouache (1996).

The special programme will also feature MAROCK by Moroccan-French director Laila Marrakchi (2005), SEEDS OF DOUBT by Egyptian-German director Samir Nasr (2005), HEREMAKONO by Mauritanian Abderrahmane Sissako (2002), A NEW DAY IN OLD SANA’A by Yemeni-British director Bader Ben Hirsi (2005) and DÈLICE PALOMA by Algerian-French director Nadir Moknèche (2007).

The Showcase section includes the World Premiere of Emirati documentary feature AS ONE: THE AUTISM PROJECT, which focuses on a unique theatrical programme for children on the autism spectrum.

Another seven Arab films will be featured in the Short Film Competition, three of them as world premieres, one as international premiere. Additionally, the Emirates Film Competition will welcome 52 films from the Gulf region this year. The programme includes 45 world premieres.

 Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF 2014) released the names of its jury members, who will select the award winners of this year’s ADFF competitions. ADFF 2014 presents films in the sections Narrative Feature Competition, New Horizons Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Emirates Films Competition and Short Film Competition. The juries will also evaluate the merits of film entries for the Child Protection award, FIPRESCI and NETPAC awards.  

This year’s Narrative Features jury led by Mumbai-based actor Irrfan Khan will be rounded out by renowned Algerian novelist and academic Waciny Laredj, award-winning American writer-director Steven Shainberg, Australian film director Cate Shortland and the internationally acclaimed award-winning Palestinian actor Ali Suliman. 

Meanwhile, the panel evaluating the New Horizons section led by Paris-based film producer Catherine Dussart includes the Syrian actor Bassel Al Khayat, Moroccan filmmaker Leila Kilani, Geneva-based Indian filmmaker Anup Singh and influential film critic Charles Tesson, Artistic Director of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.

Heading the documentary features jury is Brooklyn-based director and cinematographer Christina Voros. The other jury members in this category are Moroccan filmmaker Daoud Aoulad Syad, documentary filmmaker Elyes Baccar from Tunisia, US-Egyptian filmmaker and cinematographer Sherief Elkatsha and video artist and documentary filmmaker Amar Kanwar, from India.

The Emirates Film Competition (EFC) jury, scouting for the best talents among UAE and GCC filmmakers, will be headed by Moroccan screenwriter and director Farida Benlyazid. The judging body further includes Saudi actor Ibrahim Al Hassawi, Qatari cultural advisor, Fatima Al Remaihi, acting CEO of the Doha Film Institute and director of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival, Abdullah Saleh, playwright, stage actor based in the UAE and Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker Hisham Zaman. 

ADFF 2014’s international Short Films Competition will be judged by a panel headed by Bahraini director and producer Bassam Al Thawadi. The jury will also figure director Gustavo Taretto from Argentina, programmer and director Maike Mia Höhne from the Berlin International Film Festival, director Hala Lotfy from Egypt and filmmaker Alexandre Charlet from France. 

Egyptian award-winning director Marwan Hamed (president), Faisal Al Shamari, director of the UAE Ministry of the Interior Child Protection Centre, UAE media expert Heyam Al Juma, popular actress Nelly Kareem from Egypt and Italian audio-visual expert and lecturer Alessandra Priante are named as the ADFF 2014 Child Protection Awards jury.

The Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) jury consists of Vietnamese director Dang Nhat Minh (president), US film journalist E. Nina Rothe and Dale Hudson, professor of Film and New Media at New York University of Abu Dhabi. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) jury for ADFF 2014 will include eminent journalists Kirill Razlogov from Russia (president), Subrahmanyan Viswanath from India, Rich Cline from Great Britain, Kais Kasim from Iraq and Tarek Elshenawi from Egypt.

And finally, this year’s Career Achievement Awards will go to French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb and American producer Edward Pressman for their outstanding contribution to world cinema. Meanwhile, Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar has been chosen for the Variety Arab Filmmaker of the Year Award.