Last night December 7th, 2011 saw the opening of the 8th Dubai International Film Festival. This was pure madness at the Madinat Arena theater when Tom Cruise came to walk the red carpet for the DIFF opening feature- MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL (2011). This was one of the most anticipated events in cinema for all of 2011. The megablockbuster hit was partly shot in Dubai and therefore made a proud open for the festival. The premier was followed by an exclusive beach party ...

          Colourful closing ceremony of DIFF telecast live exclusively on Abu Dhabi Emarat Channel Highlights of the finale of DIFF 2010 include the Festival’s honouring of its 2010 Lifetime Achievement Honourees; and the presentation of the 2010 Muhr Arab, Muhr Asia Africa and Muhr Emirati Awards. The live telecast also covered the red carpet ceremony attended by international celebrities and stars from the Arab world and the UAE. ...

Red carpet gala of ‘The Way Back’ (Dec. 15) at the Dubai International Film Festival Celebrities who attended were Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Phone Booth, Minority Report) Ed Harris (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Appaloosa), Jim Sturgess (Heartless, 21, The Other Boleyn Girl), Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, City of Ember, The Lovely Bones), Mark Strong, Dragoş Bucur, and Gustaf Skarsgård. The film is an Exclusive Media Group, National Geographic Entertainment and Imagenation...

Renowned actor Colin Firth, the star of the opening film of the seventh Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), The King’s Speech, interacted with visitors to the festival at the ‘In Conversation’ session. It followed the actor being presented with the Variety ‘International Star of the Year’ Award today (Monday, Dec. 13) at the First Group Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah, from 4 to 5pm.                &...

Screening on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 10 pm at Cinestar 9, Mall of the Emirates (MoE), is director Shuchen Tan’s ‘Baghdad Film School.’ The film is about Iraqi born filmmakers Maysoon Pachachi and Kasim Abid who developed the challenging idea to open up the first independent film school in Iraq. With a car loaded with video equipment, they undertook their dangerous journey from Amman to Baghdad and in March 2004 they opened up the doors of their school. Their mission was to give a voice to ...

Colin Firth interacted with public at ‘In Conversation' session at DIFF 2010Renowned actor Colin Firth, the star of the opening film of the seventh Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), The King’s Speech, interacted with visitors to the festival at the ‘In Conversation’ session. It followed the actor being presented with the Variety ‘International Star of the Year’ Award (Monday, Dec. 13) at the First Group Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah. Shivani Pandya, DIFF Managing Director, sai...

The Dubai International Film Festival today named American film icon and international social and political activist Sean Penn as its Western honouree for 2010. Penn, whose career spans nearly three decades, more than 45 films and notable successes as producer, director, actor and screenwriter, will accept the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival’s opening ceremony on December 12, 2010. Announcing the award at the curtain-raiser press conference for DIFF 2010, Festival Chairman Abdu...

Sharon Stone, Michelle Yeoh, Kenneth Cole, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, Gloria Estefan, Dana Fuchs, Dita Von Teese, Pooja Batra, Kabir Bedi, Akbar Khan, Sarah Shahi and amfAR CEO Kevin Frost came out to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS last night at amfAR's inaugural Cinema Against AIDS gala in Dubai. The event, which was presented by The Dubai International Film Festival, raised $3 million for amfAR. Dubai Pearl was the event’s sponsor. Hewlett-Packard Company and Alfiya Kuanysheva were ...

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) today announced this year’s festival will honour Oliver Stone, Nabil El-Maleh and Shah Rukh Khan for their outstanding contribution to cinema, as part of the DIFF Salutes programme. DIFF Salutes is a retrospective tribute that celebrates the work of distinguished film makers from Asia, the Arab world, and Hollywood. This follows last year’s In the Spotlight segment, which honoured Oscar-winning American actor Morgan Freeman, the Egyptian "king...

International and regional film stars, industry leaders and filmmakers from around the world expected to grace tonight’s red carpet opening gala Months of planning and preparation will culminate in grand style tonight as international celebrities, regional stars and UAE VIPs walk up an 80-metre long red carpet and into the Madinat Jumeirah Arabian Resort at 8pm Sunday (December 11, 2005), to officially open the second Dubai International Film Festival. Lit up by sky trackers and a state-of-the...

The Dubai International Film Festival announced the silver sponsors of DIFF 2005 – Filmworks, Motivate Publishing and Sony. The three silver sponsors, who make up the third tier of corporate participation in DIFF, are from a variety of media-related backgrounds from film production and publishing to technology providers. Festival Director and CEO Neil Stephenson said the DIFF management team was pleased to receive such enthusiastic participation and support from dynamic local companies.“We a...

Organizers Deliver on Promise of Bigger, Better Second Dubai International Film Festival: DIFF team announces 6 world premieres Seven days, 98 films from 46 countries and a galaxy of the film elite from the Arab world, Asia, Europe and the Americas – the building blocks of the second Dubai International Film Festival generated much excitement today when Festival organizers unveiled the entire 2005 line-up for the first time at DIFF epicenter Madinat Jumeirah. Building rapidly on the success of...

The second Dubai International Film Festival (“DIFF”) will be bigger and better than its predecessor, with more and diverse films, a strengthened team of programmers, and changes in ticketing procedures and scheduling, Festival organizers announced at a press conference at the Madinat Jumeirah today. Apart from the enhancements, the 2005 Festival, which will run from December 11 to 17 this year, will retain most of its successful inaugural framework. Mr. Ahmad bin Byat, the Director General ...

The first Dubai International Film Festival [DIFF] is being organized by the Dubai Media City and will start on Monday December 6th and end on the evening of Saturday December 11th 2004. The festival will feature 80 films, which include 55 main features, 10 sidebar screenings and 15 Arab short films, which will showcase contemporary and classic global cinema. The main venue of the Dubai Film Festival will be the new Madinat Jumeirah, The Arabian Resort of Dubai, but other screenings will take pl...

Inaugural Dubai International Film Festival aims to build cultural bridgesCultural understanding and international harmony will be the themes of the inaugural Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai Media City’s newly launched film festival scheduled for December 2004 6-11, 2004.To be held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, the festival will showcase a wide selection of contemporary and classic glo...