The closing-night showing of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will grab many of the headlines following yesterday's announcement of the full line-up for the 13th Dubai International Film Festival.
However, it is just one of 156 movies – including 57 world premieres – that will be shown during next month’s event.
It all kicks off on December 7 with Shakespeare in Love director John Madden's political drama Miss Sloane, starring Jessica Chastain and Mark Strong.
The festival’s managing director, Shivani Pandya, says she is just as excited about this opening-night film as she is about the intergalactic epic closer.
“We are getting the international premiere here, and we think it’s really pertinent,” she says. “It’s a film about gun rights, and we feel people will really connect with it after watching the US elections and the associated lobbying, and see it as a fantastic film. John Madden will be coming to present the film and he’s really excited to be coming.”
Other Hollywood highlights include: Nocturnal Animals, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams; David Frankel's Collateral Beauty, starring Will Smith, Edward Norton and Helen Mirren; and Kenneth Lonergan's critically acclaimed Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, which has been an unexpected box-office hit since its limited release in the United States last week.
Rogue One star Felicity Jones makes it a Diff double with Juan Antonio Bayona's visually stunning fantasy A Monster Calls, also starring Liam Neeson and Sigourney Weaver.
The red carpet is expected to be busy throughout the eight-day event, with celebrity guests and daily gala screenings at Madinat Arena.
In addition, the In Conversation programme will include a talk with Hollywood legend Samuel L Jackson, who will also receive the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award. Shifting the focus from big to small screen, Jeffrey Wright and Luke Hemsworth, two of the stars of HBO's acclaimed sci-fi drama Westworld, will discuss the show.
Other stars who will attend include Hollywood star Andie MacDowell, who will present an acting masterclass in association with broadcasters SundanceTV and OSN, British actor Bill Nighy (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Pirates of the Caribbean), Will Poulter (The Maze Runner, The Revenant, War Machine) and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives).
Looking closer to home, the Muhr Awards will feature 62 films from the Arab world.
Thirteen UAE films are in the running for the Muhr Emirati prize, including Ali F Mostafa's thriller The Worthy, which had its premiere at last month's London Film Festival, and Lisa, a comedy from director Ahmed Zain who enjoyed regional box-office success with the 2014 comedy-horror Grandmother's Farm.
Nayla Al Khaja, winner of the 2010 Muhr Emirati prize for Malal, returns with family drama Animal, while Fujairah filmmaker Abdullah Al Kaabi – who cast French star Jean Reno in his 2010 short The Philosopher – will return to Diff with his debut feature, Only Men Go to the Grave.
Highlights from the region include the world premiere of Still Burning by Lebanese director Georges Hachem, who won the Muhr Arab award for 2010's Stray Bullet, and A Day for Women, the acclaimed film by Egyptian director Kamla Abouzekri, whose 2009 film One-Zero was the first by female Egyptian director to screen at the London Film Festival.
Hindi cinema is well represented, too, not least with the world premiere of Aditya Chopra's Befikre, a romantic comedy starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor.
Outdoor cinema at The Beach, JBR, also returns, with highlights including: Iman Kamel's dance/documentary/musical fusion Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc, which will be accompanied by a live musical performance, Otto Bell's Eagle Huntress, a 50th anniversary screening of the 1966 Batman movie, a spin-off from the US TV series, and a digitally restored print of the 1964 Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood classic A Fistful of Dollars.
New this year is a dedicated Virtual Reality section, which will feature 18 films and a unique, 20-seat VR cinema space that will attempt to challenge traditional notions of VR film watching as a solitary activity.
With more than 150 films, as well as talks, panels, awards and industry events taking place over the festival’s eight days, we’ve barely scratched the surface here, so we suggest visiting www.dubaifilmfest.com to start planning the week.
• Diff runs December 7 to 14 at Madinat Arena, Madinat Theatre, Vox MOE and The Beach, JBR. Tickets cost from Dh30, with a range of packages also available. They are available at the venues and from www.dubaifilmfest.com
cnewbould@thenational.ae
