Festival Data:

• Established: 2004
• Genre: General
• Attendance: 30000
• Media Attendance: 650
• Accredited Industry Attendance: 450
• Total Number of Films Screened: 98
• Total Screenings: 186

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

DIFF is a non-competitive film festival which seeks to showcase works of cinematic excellence for the benefit of the Dubai community and the international film community.

DIFF will showcase cinema of all genres from all over the world in the following 8 programs:

The Cultural Bridge

The Cultural Bridge program is one of the most important sections of DIFF. The new millennium has seen a significant increase in conflict and misunderstanding between the Islamic and broader Western worlds.

The Cultural Bridge section features a selection of features and documentaries from around the world, telling stories or describing events that serve to break down the walls of inter-racial prejudice and intolerance, thereby helping stimulate dialogue and building cross-cultural bridges.

To this end, the program will be complemented by a high-profile panel discussion exploring cinema’s role in building these bridges and exploring the festival’s motto and overall ambition of: ‘Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds’

Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights program is an out of competition section showcasing a collection of features, short films and documentaries. The selection of feature films by the world’s best Arab and Non-Arab filmmakers is testimony to the talent and creativity within contemporary Arab cinema.

A Celebration of Indian Cinema

A Celebration of Indian Cinema is a new focus within the international program and is designed to reflect the strong links between Dubai and India, a country which has a long tradition of popular and great cinema.

The section will not only feature the latest attractions from one of the world’s most prolific producers of entertainment and will also showcase a broad range of the finest works from the independent cinema movement within India.

The Cinema of the World

The Cinema of the World program will feature a selection of the most important and original new films from North and South America, Australasia and Europe.

The Cinema of AsiaAfrica

The Cinema of AsiaAfrica section will offer a broad spectrum of important and recent films emerging from both Asia and Africa. Also includes extremely rich, diverse and challenging films.

Emirati Voices

The Emirati Voices programis an important component of DIFF and features out of competition Arab cinema by UAE filmmakers. The films are selected from the growing talent pool of emerging young UAE national filmmakers. The program aims to serve as a platform for promising new Emirati filmmakers to share their work with the international film community attending DIFF.

Children’s Cinema

The Children’s Cinema section presents a selection of films appealing to children of all nationalities. Going beyond Hollywood, the selected works are from around the world and representative of different cultural backgrounds, but share a common factor in their universal appeal of entertaining children.

Animation

This section will present feature length animation films from around the world showcasing a variety of animation.

Film Submissions:

• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.dubaifilmfest.com/ en/ muhr-awards/ out-of-competition-rules-regulations.html