Abu Dhabi Film Festival, offers filmmakers generous financial help

Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Lends Hand To Arab Filmmakers.   The Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which started Thursday, is aimed at filling a vacuum among Arab filmmakers by offering them generous financial help. The festival will also promote quality Arab movies on the international platform besides bringing world cinema to the Middle East. The fourth edition of the festival is aimed at recognizing the efforts of outstanding Arab filmmakers and encouraging  Abu Dhabi as the “culture capital” of the Arab region. One of the major recognitions at the festival is the “Black Pearl” awards in each category, which are worth $1 million in all. Intishal Tamimi, festival director, said of the festival, “This is the plan of ADACH (The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage)… Through ADACH, we are trying to boost cultural activities like classical programmes, music, publishing books to Formula 1. And movies are also a part of it.”
The festival, launched in 2007 to compete with neighboring Dubai, was earlier known as the Middle East International Film Festival. It will continue until Oct. 23. Since its inception, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, along with other Gulf film festivals, has attracted more attention than other older events in the Arab world, such as the one in Cairo. However, the main concern for the organizers remains that local productions need to be encouraged in terms of quality and content. The need for such a festival is reflected in the fact that, in all, Arab countries are able to produce fewer than 20 films worthy of being showcased at film festivals around the world. The organizers as well as the filmmakers intend to change that. In fact, an attempt to provide financial help to Arab filmmakers, festival organizers have established a “Sanad” fund, which would offer subsidies between $20,000 and $60,000 to “support the new currents in the Arab cinema and encouraging artistic creativity.” This year, there are 15 entries to the festival, among which are the Sanad-supported films, “Chatti Ya Dini” (Here Comes the Rain) by Lebanese director Bahij Hojeij, Egyptian film “Rassayel El Bahr” (Messages from the Sea) by Daud Abdul Sayeed and “Rodage” (Taming) by Syrian filmmaker Nidal al-Dibs.