Dubai International Film Festival

Dubai continues its attempt to put itself on the cultural map by hosting an International Film Festival this week. Wednesday sees the launch of the 6th DIFF (Dubai International Film Festival) which aims to “Lead in building cultural understanding through creative achievement in film”. This years event will feature 168 films from 55 countries including 13 international premieres, It will be held at Madinat Arena at the Madinat Jumeirah resort.

Queen Noor of Jordan will be providing the Keynote Speech at this year’s festival which is being attended by a host of film stars such as Matt Dillon, George Clooney, Christina Ricci, Omar Sharif and Mandy Moore.

“We are honoured to have Her Majesty Queen Noor with us this year, and we look forward to a ‘full house’, given her status as an inspirational role model across the Arab world and globally admired as a humanitarian. We are also grateful to the three industry representatives, who will also provide a forum for lively discussion.”

An important part of the event is the Cultural Bridge programme which “explores ways to unite all nationalities, which is exemplified in the core slogan of the festival – ‘Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds’”. Other satellite events include the Dubai film festival charity gala which will feature an auction to raise money and awareness for an HIV/Aids charity.

Despite the recent drops in share value Dubai continues to spend heavily in order to gain international attention. The Film Festival is just one of many events this year which aimed to portray Dubai as a main player in the international culture scene. Other events encouraging people to hop on flights to Dubai include the Dubai Sound City Festival and Art Dubai.