George W. Bush to open DIFF 2008

Stone who will attend the Opening Night gala, has described W. as an attempt to trace seminal events in the American president's life, offering a 'behind-the-scenes' view of Bush's development as a person and as a politician.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director, stated: 'W. is one of the great films of 2008, and we are happy to open DIFF with a film of topical relevance to so many of us. We are honoured that Mr. Stone will be in attendance to introduce the film, and are confident that DIFF audiences will respond favourably.'

The film is a veritable who's who of Hollywood, starring Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) in the title role, Elizabeth Banks (Definitely Maybe; Spiderman 3) who plays Laura Bush, Richard Dreyfuss (Poseidon) as Dick Cheney, Thandie Newton (RocknRolla) as Condoleeza Rice, and Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream) as former First Lady Barbara Bush. 2007 DIFF guest, American-Arab actor Sayed Badreya (AmericanEast), also appears in the film-as former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Stone has ventured into presidential territory before, with 1995's Nixon. However, he has never attempted the task while the subject was still in office, a fact that has caused mixed reactions in the United States.

DIFF 2008 runs for eight days from December 11 to 18, 2008.