UAE gets the Hollywood touch

This year’s Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF), which hits the emirate next month, is expected to entice movie-goers with a highly anticipated line up of Hollywood blockbusters and foreign films. 

American productions such as “End of Watch,” a movie starring Hollywood heavyweight Jake Gyllenhall, will run alongside quirky, offbeat films such as “Gebo and the Shadow,” a French piece of cinematography. 

Film festivals typically encourage viewers to explore new genres and experience new talent and the ADFF, set to kick off on Oct. 11, is no different. 

Audiences will be offered a wide range of cinema experiences, split into categories such as the “Narrative Feature Competition,” in which exciting and original storytelling from international filmmakers can be experienced, and the “Documentary Feature Competition” which explores the world of non-fiction film. 

Attendees have the unique chance to discover foreign cultures with world premieres from Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon, to name but a few of the region’s participants.

Movies from beyond the Middle East also feature strongly, with admissions from a vast array of countries such as France and the United States. 

Oscar entries will make an appearance with Palestine’s “When I Saw You” and Afghanistan’s “Patience Stone,” according to a report from Gulf News.

The ten-day festival also features a winner at the U.S.-based Sundance Film Festival, Ai WeiWei. His winning film “Never Sorry,” a riveting portrait of China’s most famous international artist will be shown at the ADFF.

And for those who believe “old is gold,” this year’s event offers a rare treat: restored reels of popular Hollywood films such as “Singin’ In The Rain” and the epic “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Meanwhile, viewers have the chance to express their inner film critic by voting for their favorite movie to win the Audience Choice Award, a monetary prize which stands at $50, 000, according to the official ADFF website.