Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF 2014) announced the guests attending the Festival, as well as the filmmakers and celebrities who will attend the Opening Night Gala. The event tonight marks both the official launch of the ADFFs 10-day programme as well as the screening of one of the most awaited UAE productions, From A to B, directed […]
Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF 2014) announced the guests attending the Festival, as well as the filmmakers and celebrities who will attend the Opening Night Gala. The event tonight marks both the official launch of the ADFFs 10-day programme as well as the screening of one of the most awaited UAE productions, From A to B, directed by Ali Mostafa.
Ali Al Jabri, Director of Abu Dhabi Film Festival said: The Festivals opening ceremony marks the beginning of a 10-day celebration of world cinema. At this years ADFF, we pay tribute to all those artists who have spent their professional career to refine and enrich the language of cinema and offered us enduring celluloid creations.
“These moviemakers, as we define them, offer us armchair journeys around the world. The Festival creates the unique opportunity for everyone to meet some of our most outstanding contemporary moviemakers at eye level.
The stars to walk the opening ceremony red carpet this year include the ADFF Career Achievement Award Winner, the French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb.
To celebrate the World Premiere of From A to B, director Ali Mostafa will lead his cast and crew in the red carpet walk. The team will include the actors Fahad Abutrairi, Shadi Alfons, Fadi Rifaai, Abdul Mohsen El Nemer, Khaled Abol Naga and Samer Al Masri, joined by the film producers Mohamed Hefzy and Paul Baboudjian.
Many stars from the Arab world will attend the opening ceremony and honour the Festival and its moviemakers. To be spotted on the red carpet are Tunisian singer and actor Latifah, Egyptian actresses and actors Hassan Youssef, Samir Sabry, Nabila Obaid and Poussi; Syrian actors Soulafa Memar and Kosai Khouly, as well as Lebanese singer and actor Walid Tawfik.
They will be joined by talents from the GCC region, including Kuwaiti actors Abdulhussain Abdulredha, Mohammed Al-Mansour and Dawood Hussain, Omani celebrity Ibrahim Al Zadjali, Saudi actor Ibrahim Al Harbi, Emirati actor Huda Al Khatib as well as Bahraini actors Zahra Arafat and Ali al Ghurair.
Also expected to walk the red carpet are British actress-director Carmen Chaplin and actor Shaan Shahid from Pakistan.
Filmmakers presenting their films in various competition categories and special programmes of the Festival will attend the Opening Ceremony. Among them are participants from the Narrative Feature Competition such as famed Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu) and the delegation of the film The Valley, including director Ghassan Salhab, as well as actresses Carole Abboud and Yumna Marwan. The director of the movie Memories on Stone, Shawkat Amin Korki, will arrive together with his producer Mehmet Aktas. For the film Tales, director Rakhshan Bani Etemad and producer Jahangir Kosari will be present.
Among those presenting films in the New Horizons Competition and adorning the red carpet are Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar (Theeb), who will receive the Variety Arab Filmmaker of the Year Award later during the Festival, the team of Indian production Labour of Love director Adityavikram Sengupta and producers Jonaki Bhattacharya and Vikram Mohinta, as well as director Raad Mushatat and actor Mahmoud Abu Al Abbass of Iraqi film The Silence of the Shepherd.
Documentary filmmakers attending the red carpet are Hungarian director Marcell Gero (Cain’s Children), Palestinian director Amer Shomali (The Wanted 18), Emirati director Nujoom Al Ghanem (Sounds of the Sea), director of Iraqi short film The War Mohamed Al Daradji as well as Bader Ben Hirsi, director of Yemeni film A New Day in Old Sana’a, slated to be screened in ADFFs Special Programme The Arab Diaspora.
The presidents of ADFFs three Competition sections, Irrfan Khan, Catherine Dussart and Christiane Voros, will lead their fellow jury members on the red carpet. Emirates Film Competition contenders and jurors will also attend the opening ceremony.
Among key industry representatives attending from the region are Elias Antypas, Hikmat Antypas Jr., Walid Al Wadi, Nashwa Al Ruwaini, Abdulhamid Juma, Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Jamal Al Sharif, Khalil Benkirane, Hani Farsi, Mario Haddad and Nawaf Al-Janahi.
