MAJOR INTERNATIONAL FILMS SHOWCASE AT ABU DHABI FILM FESTIVAL
Four films that have been creating a buzz around the world enjoy their Middle East Premiere today as part of the Festival’s Showcase. Jim Jarmush’s film ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE, nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year, is a romance-drama vampire film starring Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, and John Hurt. Actor Slimane Dazi will attend the screening. French master Bertrand Tavernier’s QUAI D’ORSAY is a gleeful satire about a dashing but incompetent French Minister, starring Thierry Lhermitte as the useless charmer. From Russia comes THE GEOGRAPHER DRANK HIS GLOBE AWAY directed by Alexander Veledinsky, based on the novel with the same name by Alexei Ivanov, which recently took the main prize at the Odessa International Film Festival. FATAL ASSISTANCE, by Haitian director Raoul Peck, is a damning indictment at the failure of international aid agencies to restore safety and order in the wake of the Haitian earthquake in 2010. The documentary has been creating waves at Festivals everywhere and competes here in the OUR WORLD COMPETITION, which recognises films that broaden awareness of environmental and related social issues.
Also competing in OUR WORLD and screening today are EMPTYING THE SKIES by US director Douglas Kass, a documentary feature about the illegal killing of songbirds, and HOLY FIELD, HOLY WAR by Polish director Lech Kowalski, which investigates fracking methods in the Polish countryside. Both directors will attend the screenings of their films.
Documentary fans are spoiled for choice, as there are more unmissable films in the DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION. The Middle East Premiere of MADEMOISELLE C directed by Fabien Constant, who will attend the screening, is a real-life Devil Wears Prada, about Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld. Also screening in the competition is the World Premiere of SCHOOL OF BABEL, French director Julie Bertuccelli’s touching film about young immigrant children learning the language of their new home. In THE KILL TEAM, also competing in Documentary, director Dan Krauss looks at a platoon of U.S. Army infantry soldiers known as “The Kill Team”,following reports of its soldiers killing for sport while stationed in Afghanistan.
IDA by Pawel Pawlikowski, the film that won Best Film at the London Film Festival a few week ago, will have its Middle East Premiere when it screens in the NARRATIVE COMPETITION. It is the first firm the acclaimed director has made in his native Poland. The film was praised by the jury as “a courageous film that handles, with subtlety and insight, a painfully controversial historical situation – the German occupation and the Holocaust – which continues to resonate”. SIDDARTH also screens in the Narrative Competition today, with director Richie Mehta presenting. It’s a heart-rending tale of a poor Delhi street merchant’s desperate search for his missing 12 year old son.
The Georgian film BLIND DATES, directed by Levan Koguashvili, considered a major new talent, will have its Middle East premiere as part of the NEW HORIZONS program today. The film is a tragic comedy about the quiet desperation of bachelorhood, told through the eyes of a 40 year old who still lives at home with his parents. The director will attend the screening, along with the producer Olena Yershova.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival runs from October 24 until November 2. The Ceremony for the winners of the Black Pearl Awards will take place on October 31.
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