Multicultural army of volunteers work behind the scenes of Dubai's first film festival

The volunteers, who include college students, white-collar professionals, visitors, resident expatriates and UAE nationals, reflect the cultural diversity of Dubai and the Festival, and their commitment is unwavering.

The army of volunteers, aged between 15 and 52, has been involved with almost every aspect of the Festival, from stuffing invitation envelopes weeks before it began to staffing Festival headquarters at the Madinat Jumeirah, and welcoming delegates at the Dubai International Airport to manning the Festival's theatre venues every day of the six-day Festival. They have committed a minimum of 18 hours over the six days, and some even clock in close to 12 hours a day.

"The DIFF volunteers have done the Festival a great service, and we thank them for their hard work and dedication," said Abdulhamid Juma, CEO of Dubai Media City. "They not only represented the multicultural face of the Festival and the UAE to all our international guests, but their enthusiasm to build bridges ensures us of the support of our own community."

Al Reem Al Tenaiji, a UAE national studying Media Production at the Dubai Women's College, said volunteering at the Festival provided a valuable learning and social experience.

"Not only do we have an opportunity to participate in the Festival, but also to meet directors, producers, actors and other people from our field of media production and learn from them," she said. "Our supervisors have even asked us to leave after we've worked 10 hours a day, but we say no because we know that an opportunity like this is very rare so we want to make the most of it."

Roudha Al Marri, also from the hard-working Dubai Women's College contingent, said being a Festival delegate was also a great platform to engage the world as a young Arab woman.

"It's a good opportunity to change people's perspective of Arab women," she said. "We have been meeting people from around the world, and talking to them about a variety of issues, and for many people this is the first time they are meeting an Arab woman and the reality of who we are is far different from the image they had."

More than 10 nationalities are represented in the volunteer pool, and some have even flown in from around the world specifically for the Festival. Barry Manders, a German television actor, flew in from Berlin just to work behind the scenes.

"It's nice to be on the other side for a change," Manders said. "This is a great opportunity to network with industry professionals, and it is wonderful to be part of the team that has set up the first Dubai International Film Festival. It's amazing what the DIFF organizers have been available to achieve in a short period of time, and I think within five years Dubai will rate as one of the best film festivals in the world."

None of the DIFF volunteers are paid for their time - their only remuneration is film vouchers, meals and a DIFF T-shirt. Some, like Chris Yap, have even had to juggle their full-time jobs to be able to participate in DIFF. Between working his regular job as a customer service representative at Dubai Internet City and volunteering at the Festival, the Filipino movie fanatic has had less than 10 hours of sleep this week.

"Despite the lack of sleep and not being able to watch any Festival films, working here as a volunteer has been totally worth it," Yap said. "I've had the opportunity to work with a great team, and learn a great deal about the industry."

Ron Koperdraad, the DIFF Volunteer Manager, said the overwhelming response to the call for volunteers was a sign of the community support for the Festival. He paid particular tribute to Dubai Women's College, where media instructors make participation in the Festival a class project to provide students with a real-world experience.

After a successful six-day run, the first Dubai International Film Festival closes today after a half-day of Festival programming and a closing gala dinner for all delegates.