The Abu Dhabi film festival is known for its strong focus on Arab cinema, and this year had an arresting range of films, film personalities and Panel discussions from the Arab region.
Panel discussions: one of the important panel discussions at the festival was entitled "The Arab Spring and Its Effects on Film-making", and many countries affected by the uprisings were present –including Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
Main Attraction: An important movie at the festival was —18 days: a series of short films produced by 10 film-makers from Egypt
Among the directors was Yousry Nasrallah, who said that all of them had partaken in the 18-day revolution. The Libyan Revolution became a hotbed for discussion, when Muammar Gaddafi was killed right in the middle of the festival.
The recent arrest of six Iranian film-makers by their government was a major topic of discussion .
Filmaker Farhadi’s latest film: A Separation
Film deals with the sensitive subject of ‘divorce’ in conservative Iran. The film won the top award at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival and went on to be screened at more than 20 more festivals around the world.
Special Jury Mention – india : Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms for a Blind Horse), a movie produced by NFDC,India won a Special Jury mention
The Abu Dhabi festival suggested that ‘Arab filmmakers’ are disturbed, but as creative people, they always hope things will improve soon.