Dubai International Film Festival Returns After Decade-Long Hiatus, Igniting Excitement Among Filmmakers

After hearing that Dubai International Film Festival would return, Nayla Al Khaja held a call with fellow filmmakers to work out what they could make in time. Could they shoot a short film? Could they somehow get a feature ready? The festival is returning on December 8, 2027, after a decade-long absence, and Al Khaja and her peers suddenly had something to work towards.

“Do you know when you watch a film and it’s like a massive plot twist? It felt like a plot twist when they announced Dubai International Film Festival,” the Emirati filmmaker tells The National. “I think all of us filmmakers were shocked. But what’s even more exciting is that it ignited this old fire inside us. It’s a bit tight for a feature film, but I think we’re all very keen to create something for the festival.”

Diff launched in 2004 and ran for 14 editions until 2017. Alongside major international premieres and visiting stars, it gave filmmakers from the UAE and across the Arab world somewhere to show their work, find financing, meet distributors, and make connections with the international film industry. Its Enjaaz fund supported post-production on trailblazing films including Omar and Wadjda, while Dubai Film Connection offered grants for Arab film projects.

When Mona Al Marri, director general of the Government of Dubai Media Office, announced the revival at the Arab Media Summit on Thursday, it was both a joyous moment for the UAE's creative community as well as a cause for reflection.

A homecoming for Emirati cinema

Emirati filmmaker Majid Al Ansari remembers keenly what Diff could mean for Emirati film. His thriller Zinzana travelled internationally before screening at DIFF in 2015, and was considered a milestone in the evolution of the country's film scene. A decade later, his Emirati horror film Hoba, released internationally as The Vile, also found success across the world, but without a Dubai festival to bring it back to, it lacked a similar uniting moment for the broader community.

“I think there’s a positive and a negative to it,” Al Ansari says. “The positive is that, without Diff, it pushed us as filmmakers to look outward more, to really push ourselves internationally and get our films into festivals abroad. But the downside with Hoba was not having that homecoming. With Zinzana, Diff gave us a place to bring the film home and share it with other filmmakers, colleagues, people you admire, and people you’ve worked with in the industry. I really missed having that with Hoba.”

Al Khaja, who was a part of the first Diff in 2004, has also found success in the hiatus, making features including Three and Baab. “For people like me, Majid Al Ansari and others who have had feature films in the last few years, we’ve had content and we didn’t really have our local platform festival,” she says.

The opportunities behind the red carpet

Egyptian filmmaker Mohammed Mamdouh attended Diff as a student. He now teaches at American University of Sharjah, where he is an assistant professor alongside his work as a filmmaker.

“I got my first internship on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol as a student because of Dubai Film Festival,” he says. “I connected with the late Tim Smythe and he offered me an opportunity to work on the production of the film, which really changed my life.”

The production returned to Dubai for its world premiere at Diff in December 2011. Mamdouh also attended the festival as an audience member. “I still remember watching La La Land there and leaving with that feeling of having experienced something really special together that the rest of the region was yet to discover,” he says.

Lebanese-Egyptian filmmaker Reem Saleh, associate director of external relations and partnerships at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, found the connections the festival helped forge invaluable. “For many of us, it felt like the festival was the godfather for Arab filmmakers,” says Saleh.

Emirati actor Mohamed F Mostafa grew up attending Diff. One of his earliest films, his brother Ali F Mostafa’s Under the Sun, screened there in 2005. His career has since taken him to productions including Hijack with Idris Elba and the forthcoming Dune: Part Three.

“As Emiratis, I think for many years we’ve felt a responsibility to take our talent and our potential to the global stage,” he says. “What’s exciting about Diff coming back is that the global stage is now coming back to us as well.”

Emirati filmmaker Sarah Al Hashimi also points to the momentum a major festival can give locally produced work to travel beyond the UAE. “There is so much talent here and so many stories still waiting to be told, and having a major film festival in our own city gives those stories a place to exist, grow and reach audiences beyond us,” she says.

A place in Dubai’s cultural calendar

Mohammed Saeed Harib, the Emirati filmmaker behind Freej, was involved in Diff from its first edition in 2004. “We are building on what we created before, whether it was the logo that I created back when the first edition came out, or the sonic music that I also had the privilege of producing,” he says.

UAE-based singer-songwriter Layla Kardan notes that the festival provided a huge boost to the UAE's creative community overall. “Diff has always felt like more than a film festival to me,” says Kardan. “It’s where I met industry professionals who helped me with my own creative projects.”

Emirati YouTuber and entrepreneur Anas Bukhash, host of AB Talks, believes that the returning festival can take that same community even higher. “It has always belonged in Dubai, and I’m genuinely excited to see it back and watch it become one of the biggest film festivals in the world,” he says.

The next edition

Butheina Kazim founded Cinema Akil as a nomadic platform in 2014, while Diff was still running. It opened a permanent home at Alserkal Avenue in September 2018. “Dubai, as a place for discovery and access to the best of the regional landscape, can really shine through a new edition, a new voice and a new place in the world for a festival coming out of this city,” she says.

According to Gianluca Chakra, founder and chief executive of Dubai-based distributor and producer Front Row Filmed Entertainment, a major local festival is the key missing element to the current landscape. “Diff can be that middle ground and help turn regional success stories into a more connected, sustainable industry,” Chakra says.

While the festival will likely once again feature talent from across the world, Al Khaja hopes that it gives greater prominence to Emirati film. “I really hope they do one thing differently: that they open the festival with a local film,” she says. “Let’s focus on home this time.”