The Dubai Film Market has announced a round-up of deals that were concluded during and in the months following its inaugural edition in December 2008.

The Dubai market, held under the umbrella of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), has launched a digitised library of features, documentaries and shorts, Cinetech, which aims to simplify the process of buying and selling film rights. Last year’s event also hosted a Market Lounge to facilitate deal-making and networking.

Among the deals arising from the event:

  • Dutch distributor Moonlight Films acquired Moroccan feature Casanegra for the Netherlands and three titles – Uberto Pasolini’s Machan, Chus Gutierrez’ Return To Hansala and Annemarie Jacir’s Salt Of This Sea – for Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
  • US sales outfit Shoreline picked up international rights to Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s Pomegranates And Myrrh and Chinese director Zhang Yuan’s Dada’s Dance.
  • Finnish broadcaster YLE has acquired one unnamed feature and one short from the Cinetech, while Iranian broadcaster IRIB is in talks to acquire around 20 titles.
  • Black Nation, from Swedish documentarian Mats Hjelm, was acquired by Australian broadcaster SBS, which is also in talks for other Cinetech films for a world cinema programme.

In addition, several deals were concluded through the Market Lounge, including A2 Avalon’s acquisition of the Alliance Atlantis library of over 10,000 hours of programming for the Arab world, and Alchemy Films’ acquisition of Middle East rights to South African feature Mr. Bones 2.

“DIFF 2008 saw a remarkable amount of activity at the inaugural Dubai Film Market involving sales agents, producers, and even casting directors who were able to access the Cinetech titles at their convenience,” said Dubai Film Market director Ziad Yaghi.

This year’s Dubai Film Market will take place during the Dubai International Film Festival which is scheduled to run December 9-16.

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