NJD with Sheri Sebbens one of the stars of The Sapphires #DIFF2012

It’s been an exhilarating weekend at DIFF 2012 ….full of amazing movies, boat rides that are more awesome than Venice, red carpet moments, indulging little diva with cast and directors of children’s films from abroad, meeting fellow script editors, catching up with media friends….and more. The weather in Dubai is absolutely amazing so being out and about makes absolute sense. Right now little diva (NJD) and I are having hot chocolate on the patio of Kubba at Al Qasr hotel overlooking the sea, beautiful landscapes, boats winding their way from one place to another and of course and amazing view of the Burj Al Arab….amongst this is all the hustle and bustle of DIFF 2012 which, as a member of Universal Film Makers, I feel like I am in heaven…the talent at DIFF 2012 is inspiring, entertaining and uplifting.

To support the industry,  DIFF has also announced the winners of its Dubai Film Connection (DFC), a highly successful co-production market held in conjunction with the festival introduces selected film projects by Arab filmmakers to regional and international film professionals.

The awards of over USD100,000 represent three prizes from DIFF of USD25,000, as well as other awards from international organisations including:the Film Clinic /DIFF Debut Feature Award of USD10,000; EUR6,000 from ARTE to a filmmaker for exceptional originality, writing style and motivation; USD 10,000 for the Front Row / KNCC Award which is new for 2012; EUR5,000 from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, presented to a film produced and directed in a Francophone Arab country; and accreditation for the prestigious Producers Network at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for 10 Arab producers participating at the DFC.

The awards of course add additional support for filmmakers as the sole aim of DFC is to promote film production in the Arab world. The Dubai Film Connection was launched in 2007. Since then, 31 projects have been completed and a further 13 are in various stages of production. Recent successes include Wadjdaby Haifaa Al Mansour; When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir; and Fidai by Damien Ounouri. It is awesome seeing all this talent being given a chance to shine!

Touted as the “incredibly smart and surprisingly humours” action thriller, “The Avengers”, after a week-long delay in entering the UAE market, will run into packed-houses all this weekend, and beyond.

And, those who don’t get tickets to the spectacular super-heroic flick “The Avengers”, which sees Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawk Eye gang up against the evil Loki and his army, will most probably watch Angelina Jolie’s directorial venture “In the land of blood and honey”. Although it’s got mixed reviews, there’s a charm about the lady that would make us want to see her take on the Bosnian war.

Surely, the other contenders – “Jannat2”, “Retreat”, and “Main Street” – will clearly struggle to stay afloat.

Genre: Action

Director: Joss Whedon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson

The Story: In a bid to save Earth from the evil Loki and his notorious army, Nick Fury and the international agency S.H.I.E.L.D set up a team of super humans – The Avengers.

Retreat

Genre: Thriller

Director: Carl Tibbets

Cast: Jamie Bell, Cilian Murphy and Thandie Newton

The story: Kate and Martin are held hostage in the Island Retreat, they had reached in a bid to find solace from a personal tragedy, by a stranger who claimed there’s news of an airborne killer disease that’s sweeping through Europe.

Main Street

Genre: Drama

Director: John Doyle

Cast: Orlando Bloom, Colin Firth and Ellen Burstyn

The story: The arrival of a stranger, with what seems a controversial plan to save their town, creates a massive change in the life of residents in a decaying Southern city.

Source: http://www.emirates247.com/entertainment/movies-that-will-make-a-clean-sweep-at-the-cinemas-this-week-2012-05-03-1.457034

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Film directors have a reputation for being a navel-gazing bunch – especially European ones. But French director Gérard Courant appears to have taken the beret-wearing brigade to fresh heights of loftiness with Cinématon, a collection of more than 2,500 mini-films he’s diligently filmed over 34 years. Screened back to back at a number of festivals across the world, it marks the longest film ever made, and a hefty 12-hour chunk will be screened as part of the Gulf Film Festival this week.

Started in February 1978, Cinématon is comprised of strict three-and-a-half minute intimate portraits of fellow filmmakers – subjects include Jean-Luc Godard, Wim Wenders and Terry Gilliam – which Courant compares to ‘passport photos’. During two previous visits to Dubai Courant has filmed more than 20 hours of footage, including more than 130 Cinématon chapters in the city, the most he’s captured anywhere outside of Paris and Cannes. Many of these will be screened as part of a focus on Courant’s work at this year’s Gulf Film Festival. While the 60-year-old scurries around this year’s festival in search of new subjects, we asked the wacky auteur why he’s kept at it all these years.

Right, let’s start at the beginning. Where, when, how and why did you get the idea for Cinématon?

The idea came back in the early ’70s when I was a student in Dijon [in France], and a passionate film buff. I noticed that there were very few films about artists of the first half of the 20th century – contemporary cinema was born in 1895. The idea then came to me to retain a memento of film personalities from the art world [today]. I wanted to film it in an innovative cinematic form that is neither documentary nor television, but that is instead revolutionary, an artistic object with original shapes, very close to the practices of contemporary art.

The project has attracted attention because of appearances by a number of high-profile filmmakers. How did you convince them to participate?
I explained to the celebrities that my project was an anthology film in which all the people I was filming were under the same rules, that this uniformity was the specificity of the aesthetic project. Of course, these personalities are often surprised by the radicalness of this project that requires them to show themselves in an unusual on camera. As the project progresses and the number of Cinématons increases, more well-known people are filmed, and it’s becoming easier to convince new people to take part.

How long can you keep it up? The project must end at some point…
I’ve often said I’ll continue until I die, but that’s a joke. In fact, I don’t know. Each film is an experience that will serve me for the next. My filmography is a kind of continuous ribbon. This approach, to ignore what I’ll do in the near future, allows me to be completely free in my head. Paradoxically, it is perhaps because of this freedom that I can continue to make Cinématons. If I was chained to the idea of an endless film, I think it would paralyse me – I’d have stopped this project long ago. This is my way of working. Maybe in my heart I know I’ll continue to direct this film endlessly and I don’t want to admit it to myself, to avoid the impression of being chained to this film.

You must encounter sceptics who see the project as pointless, pretentious or a stunt. How do you answer these criticisms?
The only answer I can give the sceptics is the film’s success. If no one was interested in Cinématon, sceptics might have reason to be. But the film is appreciated; it has been much discussed by critics, analysts, philosophers, anthropologists and sociologists, and more and more people are asking to be filmed. It’s encouraging that the number of people who appreciate my project is steadily increasing.

You visited the Gulf Film Festival last year. What were your impressions of the area and its filmmakers?
What pleased me most is the openness and curiosity of the people of the Gulf. In old Europe the public is jaded, and it’s increasingly difficult to make them discover new things because they believe they know everything. This is obviously false. Conversely, in Dubai there’s a thirst for discovery that existed in France when I started making films but has completely disappeared today

News Source: http://www.timeoutdubai.com/films/features/32014-longest-film-ever-made-in-dubai