The ninth edition of the Muscat International Film Festival (MIFF) is scheduled to be held from March 21 to 28 next year.
Internationally acclaimed Indian actor Irrfan Khan is likely to attend the biennial event along with several other Arab celebrities, said organisers. Khan’s last Hollywood movie was blockbuster Jurassic World.
Organised by the Oman Film Society (OFS) under the auspices of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, the festival’s highlight will be an Omar Sharif film retrospective. A special programme for filmmakers from Oman will also be held as part of the festival.
According to filmmaker Khalid al Zadjali, who is also the president of OFS, the event is going to be a grand one. “The ninth edition will be grander compared to previous years not just in terms of celebrities, but also with regards to workshops, screening of cinema from across the world, and the number of entries. We are receiving a lot of entries from around the world under the feature film category. The number of entries in the short films segment has also shot up.”
Until now the festival has received 15 entries (under production) under the feature films category from countries such as, India, Morocco, US, Gulf and the UK. Over 200 short films are expected to feature in the festival. “Not only have we seen many interesting stories and screenplays so far, but a lot of experiment with script, camera work and editing. Festivals like these motivate filmmakers to express themselves as new age storytellers,” said Zadjali.
He added that while the main events will take place at the new OFS building near the airport, venue for the opening and closing ceremonies will be announced later. “We have invited a lot of celebrities, but it is too early to announce any names formally. We shall do that at the end of this year,” he said.
