Abu Dhabi Film Festival reveals 2013 line-up

Daniel Schechter’s Life Of Crime will open the 7^th Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which runs Oct 24- Nov 2.

13 Arab feature films (seven of which are world premieres) will compete across different sections of the festival, including Rani Massalha’s Giraffada and Nejib Belkhadi’s Bastardo in the New Horizons Competition, Ahmed Abdallah’s Rags And Tatters and Hicham Ayouch’s Fevers in the Narrative Feature Competition, and Sherief Elkatsha’s Cairo Drive and Mohammad Soueid’s The Boy From Aleppo in the Documentary Feature Competition.

Tobe Hooper’s UAE horror Djin will screen in the festival’s Showcase section.

Films competing in the Narrative Feature Competition include Jun Robles Lana’s Barber’s Tales, Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners, Danis Tanovic’s An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker, Jasmila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida, and the world premiere of Fevers, directed by Hicham Ayouch.

Recent projects to be backed by the festival’s production and development fund SANAD, including Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji’s In The Sands Of Babylon, Hamza Ouni’s El Gort, Kasim Abid’s Whispers Of The Cities and Ayten Amin’s Villa 69, will all have their world premieres at the festival.

The festival will give a Black Pearl Career Achievement Award to Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass.

To celebrate the 100^th year anniversary of Indian cinema the festival will include a special programme celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema, with screenings including Ritwik Ghatak’s The Golden Thread, Mani Kaul’s In Two Minds and M S Sathyu’s In Two Minds.

Now in his second year as festival director, Ali Al Jabri, said of the line-up: “Our vision for the festival has always been to showcase Arab cinema alongside established international films and I am very happy to say, in our 7th year, we are carrying on this tradition. ADFF was the first festival in the MENA region to have Arab films competing side-by-side with international ones and we’re proud to maintain that principle. There is one exception: our Emirates Film Competition is devoted to the short filmmakers of the Gulf, and it provides emerging talents with an international platform.”

“I hope Abu Dhabi is as excited by this year’s Festival line-up as I am. We have secured films that are delighting audiences and making waves around the world. It is a heady and stimulating mix of the best of international and Arab cinema, with something for young and old. There’s entertainment for the family, as well as more challenging films for cinema buffs and arm-chair critics. Once again we will be joined by a host of Emirati and international guests, who will bring all the glamour of the silver screen to our city. It’s only three weeks away, so start planning your visit now,” added Al Jabri.

Narrative Feature Competition:

Barber’s Tales, Jun Robles Lana, Philippines
Prisoners, Denis Vileneuve, Canada, Spain
An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker, Danis Tanovic, Bosnia and Herzigovina, France, Slovenia, Italy
Fevers, Hicham Ayouch, Morocco, France
For Those Who Can Tell No Tales, Jasmila Zbanic, Bosnia and Herzigovina, Quatar
Ida Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland, Denmark
In The Sands of Babylon, Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji, Iraq
Jealousy, Philippe Garrel, France
My Sweet Pepper Land, Hiner Saleem, Iraq, France, Germany
Night Moves, Kelly Reichardt, US
Philomena, Stephen Frears, UK, US, France
Rags And Tatters, Ahmad Abdallah, Egypt
Siddharth, Richie Mehta, India, Canada
The Reconstruction, Juan Esteban Taratuto, Argentina
The Rooftops, Merzak Allouache, Algeria, France, Qatar
A Touch Of Sin, Jia Zhangke, China, Japan

New Horizons (Afaq Jadida) Competition – first and second time directors
Bastardo, Nejib Belkadhi, Tunisia, France, Qatar
Before Snowfall, Hisham Zaman, Iraq, Norway, Germany
Belle, Amma Asanti, UK
Blind Dates, Levan Koguashvili, Georgia
Canopy, Aaron Wilson, Australia
The Double, Richard Ayoade, UK
Giraffada, Rani Massalha, Palestine, France, Germany, Italy
Love Love Me, Hanne Myren, Norway
My Name Is Hmmm, Agnès Troublé, France
Potosi, Alfredo Castruita, Mexico
Qissa, Anup Singh, India, Germany, Netherlands, France
Salvo, Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza, Italy
Short Term 12, Destin Daniel Cretton, US
Still Life, Uberto Pasolini, Italy, UK
Villa 69, Ayten Amin, Egypt, UAE

Documentary Feature Competition
Blackfish, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, US
The Boy From Aleppo, Mohammad Soueid, Lebanon, UAE
Doctor Fabre Will Cure You, Pierre Coulibeuf, Belgium, France
El Gort, Hamza Ouni Tunisia, UAE
Holy Gra, Gianfranco Rosi, Italy
Inreallife, Beeban Kidron, UK
The Kill Team, Dan Krauss, US
My Stolen Revolution, Nahid Persson Sarvestani, Sweden
School Of Babel, Julie Bertuccelli, France
These Birds Walk, Omar Mullick, Bassem Tariq, Pakistan, US
Walls, Francesco Conversano, Nene Grignaffini, Italy
Whispers Of The Cities, Kasim Abid, Iraq, UAE
Who Is Dayani Cristal, Marc Silver, UK, Mexico