Catching up with Diff’s managing director Shivani Pandya at Cannes

Diff's managing director shares the inside story on what international film festival organisers get up to when they visit another festival.

Shivani Pandya, managing director of Dubai International Film Festival. Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for DIFF

As the 69th edition of the Cannes Film Festival draws to a close, we catch up with Shivani Pandya, the managing director of the Dubai International Film Festival, a long-time visitor to the glitzy event on the French Riviera.

She shared the latest news from the UAE Pavilion at the event, gave us the lowdown on this year’s locally supported movies – and explained just what exactly the organisers of one film festival get up to when they visit another one.

What is the role of the Dubai International Film Festival, at home in the UAE and in the wider film world?

For us, our mandate is to be a cultural event for the people of the UAE and the wider GCC.

That’s our key thing, but we also want to really develop cinema, so we look at elements such as getting universities on board to help them understand film and bringing in volunteers, up to developing the film market itself on a more industry level.

We focus on Arab cinema because we take the view that if we create a community where Arab filmmakers are coming to Dubai and showcasing their films it will help aspiring filmmakers from the Gulf region to come together and create projects together.

So we have three key elements: being a great cultural event, developing the local film industry and putting Dubai and the UAE on the map for the entertainment industry itself.

Why are you at Cannes? What does the boss of one film festival do at another film festival?

Typically, one festival comes to another festival to see films that they might not see otherwise.

Especially here in Cannes, there are so many films presented from all over the world – whether it’s part of the main selection or part of the market.

So we’re looking at films that might be finished, or might not, and if we see something good, that’s really important from a programming point of view.

Also, we have a strong relationship with the Cannes’ producers’ network through the Dubai Film Connection, so we bring out producers to network with other producers from around the world, as well as funding ­organisations.

In addition, we have four producers this year from the Dubai Film Market, who get to show up to 20 minutes of their films to distributors and producers from around the world and hopefully pick up distribution and partnerships further down the line.

Also, of course, we want to promote Diff, and the UAE as a destination and market, so we have the UAE Pavilion here, with the Sharjah Children’s Film Festival, the Dubai Film and TV Commission, Dubai Studio City, Dubai Film Market and Image Nation Abu Dhabi all present to push that side.

Is there any big news you can share about this year’s Diff?

Sadly not right now, but over the next couple of weeks and months you can expect quite a few announcements. We started a lot of discussions earlier this year that we’ve concluded here, and are in the process of signing deals – so don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know.

What have been your personal highlights of Cannes this year?

DFM Goes to Cannes got a lot of hype because of the films we selected. For us, any publicity is good publicity. We like to support documentaries and we think if we’re supporting a documentary, it means they’re telling a story that should be heard.

After coming to Cannes for many years, how do you think international perceptions of the Arab film industry have changed?

I think the Arab film industry is definitely gaining momentum, and I’m proud to have had a role in that.

I’ve really seen the difference in perception over the years. As a region, we have a lot of films presented in programmes in Cannes. The Europeans, and the French in particular, have always been open to Arab cinema and now we’re talking to Germany and to the Nordic states.

The Malmo Arab Film Festival [in Sweden] even had an event in the UAE Pavilion this year to interact with Arab filmmakers, and that’s a great relationship to have.

I think there’s a huge change in the way people are looking at Arab cinema and a huge improvement in the quality of Arab cinema. There’s far more support than there was previously and what’s great is that now, there is a huge number of Arab events and organisations supporting Arab cinema, whereas in the past it was only European institutions.

There has been a total change in dynamics and a much bigger delegation in the industry from the Arab world. It’s great to see.