International panel of actors, directors to share experiences, thoughts on film as a cultural tool

The panel, featuring renowned directors Subhash Ghai from India, Daoud Abdel Sayed from Egypt, Mark Achbar from Canada and Sabiha Sumar from Pakistan, will speak about their experiences in filmmaking and about how film can be used as a tool in promoting intercultural dialogue and building cultural bridges.

The theme of building cultural bridges is central to the Dubai International Film Festival. In his remarks at the official unveiling of the DIFF program, Festival Chairman HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Emirates Group, said film is an ideal tool for trying to enhance cross-cultural understanding around the world.

"This is the very purpose and theme of Dubai's first film Festival, which seeks to build a new international cultural bridge at a time in world history when the need for bridge-building is ever more necessary and important," Sheikh Ahmed said. "I hope that this Festival can make a contribution, however small, towards promoting peace and understanding on the international stage."

Each of the professionals on the panel brings substantial experience to the table: Ghai, who made his directorial debut in 1976, is recognized as leading Indian cinema to overseas markets while simultaneously creating blockbusters at home; Sayed is equally renowned in the Arab world for his talents as a writer and director at home in Egypt and abroad; Mark Achbar, part of the emerging breed of critical thinkers pointing out social inequities and the perils of globalization and big business, has struck a chord at home in Canada and around the world with his eye-opening exposes of politics and economics; and Pakistani director Sabiha Suman has received critical acclaim for her first feature Silent Waters, showing at the Festival.

The panel discussion, which begins at 10 am on Wednesday, is free and open to the public. Students are particularly encouraged to attend.