The Abu Dhabi Film Commission announces several keynote speakers for its 2009 Circle Conference

The information was announced at the ADFC press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival by David Shepheard, Director of Abu Dhabi Film Commission in the presence of His Excellency Mohammed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei, the General Director of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and Bassem Kudsi, Special Projects Manager of ADACH.

Some of the Keynote speakers confirmed to take place at the Conference this year are Barbara DeFina, Sandford Panich, Walter Parkes, Amr Arafa, Nancy Tellem, Stewart Till and Skeikha Al Zain Al Sabah are confirmed to take part at the conference this year.

Held in Abu Dhabi from 9th to 11th October, the Circle Conference will address the business and creative elements of making film and television content; new approaches to financing and distribution, the impact of digital technology; and how the industry creates modern content for a global audience.

The conference will feature special workshops and panel discussions on topics including global finance models; developing stories for the international market; women and film on the world stage; emerging film and television markets; regional co-productions and location filming in the UAE.

The Circle Conference 2009 is held in partnership with Imagenation Abu Dhabi and in line with The Middle East International Film Festival, which takes place from 8 - 17th October, 2009.

The Circle Conference also incorporates The Shasha Grant Award, Abu Dhabi Film Commission's international screenwriting competition.

"We had over 90 feature length scripts submitted for this year's competition and today we are happy to announce the five finalists, whose key production teams will attend the Circle Conference to pitch their projects to a panel of producers and financiers,"

commented David Shepheard, Director of ADFC

The Shasha Grant Award 2009 nominees are; Wajda (WHYDA) by Haifaa Al Mansour; When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir; The Beautiful Game by Engi Wassef; Zahra by Rezah Abi Rafeh; A Lebanese Story by Nadeem Thabet.

The winning filmmaker will be announced during the conference closing ceremony and will receive a production grant and a first look deal with Imagenation Abu Dhabi.