The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) starts this Friday Oct 10th in Abu Dhabi and will last until Oct 19. Cultural/entertainment events are rare in Abu Dhabi so its exciting to have some action going on in this sleepy city and catch a few good films as well and maybe bump into a few stars (Antonio Banderas I’m hoping..yes he’s going to attend the opening Gala Night along with wifey Melanie Grifith).
Well events are rare, but I can’t complain, we actually have a busy Fall (or a busy November mainly) in the capital with Christina Aguilera’s concert, Art-Paris, Abu Dhabi Classics Festival and the Jazz Festival. There’a a bunch of cultural/entertainment events going on in Dubai as well like Kylie’s , Fergie’s and Maroon 5’s concerts among others as well as the Dubai International Film Festival.
Back to MEIFF…4 movies I really want to see at this year’s festival:
Director: Jonathan Levine
Description: The troubled high school student Luke Shapiro wants to beat depression and connect with a member of the opposite sex before moving on to college. Fortunately, he is able to strike a deal with psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley), who trades him therapy sessions for drugs. The zany doctor’s marriage is crumbling, so he too is looking for answers. The two begin to explore both New York City and their own depression. As they journey through adventurous passages of these new life stages, Luke falls for a classmate, who just happens to be the daughter of his new doctor friend. The film won an audience award at Sundance Film Festival this year.
Director: Randa Chahal Sabbag
Description: The Kite (طيارة من ورق) has been released on 2003 in Lebanon. It tells a story of young girl who lives in a small druze town in the south of Lebanon near the occupied zone that was controlled by Israel after the 1982 invasion. She was forced to get married to another young boy in a town across the occupied zone. Although the story didn’t focus on the Israeli actions during that sad period of occupation, one can easily sense from the film the misery of Lebanese near influence of those occupation forces.
Director: Rashid Masharawi
Description: Abu Laila (Mohamed Bakri) used to be a judge, but because the government does not have the means to pay him anymore he is forced to be a taxi driver. On the day his daughter Laila becomes seven years old, his wife insists that he be home early with a present and cake. Abu Laila has nothing else on his mind than completing this mission, but the daily life in Palestine has other plans…
Director: Atom Egoyan
Description:
High school French teacher Sabine (Arsinée Khanjian) gives her class a translation exercise based on a real news story about a terrorist who plants a bomb in the airline luggage of his pregnant girlfriend. The assignment has a profound effect on one student, Simon (Devon Bostick), who lives with his uncle (Scott Speedman). In the course of translating Simon imagines that the news item is his own family’s story, with the terrorist standing in for his father. Years ago Simon’s father (Noam Jenkins) crashed the family car killing both himself and his wife (Rachel Blanchard), making Simon an orphan. Simon always feared that the accident was intentional. Simon reads his version to the class and then takes it to the Internet. In essence he has created a false identity which allows him to probe his family secret. As Simon uses his new persona to journey deeper into his past, the public reaction is swift and strong. Then an exotic woman reveals her true identity. The truth about Simon’s family emerges. The mystery is solved and a new family is formed.
There’s also an Advertising Competition screening, but no details are provided.
Other films I hope to catch:
