Source: www.ameinfo.com
ADFF @ The Pavilion Downtown Dubai is a four-month long series of film screenings presented by the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) in collaboration with film producer Butheina Hamed Kazim and in partnership with The Pavilion Downtown Dubai. The initiative is a first for ADFF as it showcases highlights of the capital’s festival to the Dubai community as part of its commitment to a greater selection of screenings and activities in the UAE throughout the year.
ADFF @ The Pavilion Downtown Dubai aims to facilitate and encourage the increasingly active conversation among filmmakers, supporters, patrons and enthusiasts across the UAE, who are central to the exciting growth of the local film culture. Hosted at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, the venue is a unique hub for a diverse range of arts events, offering a platform to promote an active cultural community to the public and to support the work of a rising generation of artists in the region. Along with the cinema where the films will be hosted, The Pavilion includes two galleries, a library, a café and a shisha lounge facing the Burj Khalifa.
Co-curator Butheina Hamed Kazim and the ADFF programming team have carefully selected from among highlights of the past two years to give an overview of several sections that are presented at the festival each October in Abu Dhabi.
Launching on May 13, ADFF @ The Pavilion Downtown Dubai will begin with four films that have received ADFF’s SANAD grants which support Arab cinema. Through the coming months, future installments of the series will focus on past ADFF award winners; titles from The Museum of Modern Art (New York) and ArteEast’s groundbreaking program ‘Mapping Subjectivity’; and, during the Holy Month of Ramadan, a selection of Emirati short films that have been entered in the Emirates Film Competition, as well as films that help broaden public awareness towards significant environmental issues.
“Over the past few years, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival has helped to create a fertile ground for film culture to take root in the UAE and our screenings at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai mark an exciting partnership that we hope will inspire more collaborations and initiatives to connect audiences and filmmakers across the UAE,” said Eissa Saif Rashed Al Mazrouei, Director of Special Projects, ADACH.
“We are also happy that this series, which shows the diversity and quality that is at the heart of our program each year, includes a number of films by Emiratis whose work is too often seen only in festivals,” he added.
“Film lovers in the UAE rarely have the chance to see the kinds of films we show at ADFF except during the festivals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, so we are delighted to present this series of outstanding films all through the coming summer. Having one of Dubai’s most exciting contemporary art spaces as the home for our first long-running series is an ideal way to allow a wider audience to discover some of the most engaging works of local, regional and international cinema,” said Peter Scarlet, Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
The series runs from May through August 2011 with a premiere screening every Friday and two repeat screenings every Saturday. All films that are not in English are screened with English subtitles.
