DIFF makes North American launch at Toronto

A Dubai Media City (DMC) delegation headed by CEO Abdulhamid Juma, is in Toronto, Canada for the launch as well as to participate in the Toronto International Film Festival. Accompanying Juma in Toronto are the DIFF CEO and Director Neil Stephenson and the rest of the DIFF team.

The DIFF team yesterday held a reception at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto to mark the North American launch of the festival. The event saw the Windsor Arms converted into a magical Arabian village replete with Arabian food, music, belly dancers, camels and falcons.

The DMC delegation in Toronto also plans to promote the festival by giving away two first class tickets to Dubai from New York City on Emirates and 4 nights at the world-famous Burj Al Arab Hotel.

"The Dubai International Film Festival's themes of cultural understanding and international harmony will touch a chord with western filmmakers and professionals at a time when the Western and Eastern intelligentia are advocating the need to build cultural bridges between each other," said Juma.

"At Toronto, we will also be highlighting the opportunities that DIFF offers international filmmakers and producers to explore one of the big emerging regional markets for films. We hope to considerably enhance its global profile at Toronto," Juma said.

The inaugural Dubai International Film Festival is taking place between the 6th and 11th of December, 2004. The Dubai festival will feature a total of 80 films, which include 55 main features, 10 sidebar screenings and 15 Arab short films. These films will be further broken down into ten distinct programs.

The festival will present five red carpet "Dubai Gala Screenings" at the festival's home and epicenter, Dubai's stunning new Madinat Jumeirah Arabian Resort. The festival program has been designed to reflect Dubai's cosmopolitan and multi-cultural character, while its centerpiece program, "Operation Cultural Bridge", is intended to stimulate meaningful inter-cultural dialogue among festival-goers.