This year’s Abu Dhabi Film Festival attracted more than 40,000 attendees, an 11% increase.

The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) has announced that its next edition will take place Oct 16-25, 2014.

This year’s edition, which ran Oct 24-Nov 2, welcomed more than 40,000 attendees, an 11% increase, and featured 160 films.

Guests visiting the festival included Hiam Abbass, Forest Whitaker and Irrfan Khan alongside more than 550 film professionals and more than 900 members of the press.

Ali Al Jabri [pictured], director of ADFF, commented: “ADFF has firmly established itself as one of the most important cultural events in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The Festival can count on a steady and eager fan base among the local community and sees audiences returning to the Festival every year in great numbers.

“We welcome these encouraging figures and the positive feedback we received from our guests, reflecting of the wider cultural surge currently taking place in our region. It was very gratifying to see that Abu Dhabi residents and international guests alike recognise ADFF as one of the key places to discover outstanding films from all over the world.”

SANAD, the festival’s development and post-production fund for filmmakers from the Arab world, awarded a total of $500,000 in grants to 16 development and nine post-production projects.

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