Dubai Duty Free, the largest single airport retailer in the world, will be the presenting sponsor of the Dublin Arabic Film Festival (DAFF) for the fifth year running when it opens next week. The film festival, which gets underway at the Irish Film Institute (IFI) on Friday October 5 is the brainchild of the multi Oscar nominated filmmaker, Jim Sheridan and filmmaker Zahara Moufid and has been curated in conjunction with the IFI.
Jim Sheridan was a juror on the panel of the Dubai International Film Festival some years ago and was amazed at the level of skill and standard of films that were being made in the Arab world. He was so inspired by what he saw he decided he wanted to give Irish audiences the opportunity to see these films. With that, he then approached Dubai Duty Free to see if it might be an interesting project for the airport retailer to get involved with. Fortunately, it was, and Dubai Duty Free agreed to become the presenting sponsor of the Dublin Arabic Film Festival in 2014. That same year, Omar Sharif, the acting legend and one of the greatest movie stars of all time was the guest of honour in the first edition of DAFF. In its inaugural year the festival showcased some of Omar’s classic movies, including Lawrence of Arabia and the last piece of work he made before he died, Monsieur Ibrahim.
Speaking ahead of this year’s DAFF, Colm McLoughlin Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free said: “We are proud to be back in Dublin once again to support the fifth edition of the Dublin Arabic Film Festival. The links between Ireland and the Arab world continue to grow stronger with each passing year, and we have seen that through the number of Irish people travelling to Dubai for both business and leisure, as well as UAE nationals visiting Ireland. Ireland has been doing business with the UAE for many years and it is important to continually build on our core business and cultural relationships.”
According to Tourism Ireland, screen tourism to Ireland is a growing trend with 71,000 travelers from the Gulf visiting Ireland last year. The UAE is the biggest market, with 65% of GCC visitors coming from the Emirates. Popular series, such as Game of Thrones and the latest series of Star Wars films, have been shot at various locations in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, providing a welcome boost to the tourism economy.
Dubai Duty Free is no stranger to the arts and is a founding sponsor of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), a sponsor of the annual Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and a sponsor of ChoirFest Middle East. The Dubai Duty Free’s choral ensemble, The Dubai Duty Free Nightingales has participated in ChoirFest Middle East in the past five years and has won four awards, including the Best Corporate Choir for the third time this year.
Attending the DAFF opening night will be Dubai Duty Free’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sinead El Sibai, a Dublin native who has been living in Dubai for 30 years. She married a Lebanese man and enjoys a multicultural work-life balance in the Middle Eastern city.
Speaking in advance of DAFF, Sinead said: “Sponsorship has been a major part of our marketing strategy since our inception in 1983. Key sponsorships of various sporting and cultural events around the world allow us to communicate and engage with international audiences through local events and through digital, print, outdoor and broadcast media. There is a strong Irish community in the UAE and there are an increasing number of Irish people visiting Dubai for both business and leisure and we want to continue to place our brand in front of them and to remind them that Dubai is a great place to visit and to do business.”
In the UK Dubai Duty Free sponsor horse racing in Newbury and Ascot and in Ireland, the company is the title sponsor of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. The company also own and run the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which is a major tennis tournament held in February each year.
This year’s festival will include six films, five of which will be shown at the IFI and one at the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle. Films showing over the festival at the IFI include the opening film Looking for Oum Kulthum, Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s drama about Oum Kulthum, the legendary Egyptian singer and diva, Amr Salama’s Sheikh Jackson and Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult will screen on Saturday October 6, while Karim Moussaoui’s Until the Birds Return and Tala Hadid’s House in the Fields will screen on Sunday October 7. The Chester Beatty Library (CBL) will also show Nadine Labaki’s comedy Caramel at 2pm on Saturday October 6; admission to the CBL screening will be free of charge.
Over the past four years, DAFF has attracted dedicated movie fans, directors and actors from all over the world, including Dubai, Egypt and Morocco. International and Irish famous faces at the festival over the years include Omar Sharif, U2, The Edge, actress Amy Huberman, singer Damien Dempsey, and ambassadors from several Arab countries.
Commenting on this year’s programme, Jim Sheridan said: “Last year the place of women in Arabic society emerged as one of the key themes of the festival and it is once again one of the central themes of this year’s festival with three films being directed by women.”
Looking for Oum Kulthum, the festival’s opening film, tells the story of Mitra, an ambitious artist in her forties who embarks on her dream project of making a film about the legendary Egyptian singer and diva Oum Kulthum. The film explores the struggles, sacrifices and the price of Oum Kulthum’s success as a female artist in a male-dominated society.
Affecting drama, Sheikh Jackson tells the story of Khaled, a respected junior cleric in Alexandria, whose seemingly stable life becomes derailed by the news of Michael Jackson’s death. Succumbing to long-suppressed feelings of turmoil and anxiety, he begins neglecting his wife and child and experiences flashbacks to his teenage years, when he was nicknamed Jackson on account of love for the King of Pop.
Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult, which was shortlisted for this year’s Best Foreign Language Oscar, tells the story of how a minor altercation between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee escalates into a public dispute that comes to encapsulate the lasting legacy of the Lebanese Civil War.
Documentary House in the Fields centres on an isolated rural Amazigh village in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco. A portrait of a community that has remained unchanged for hundreds of years despite the rapidly accelerating socio-political realities of the country, the film observes and faithfully records the lives of the villagers.
In Until the Birds Return, past and present collide in the lives three people, in this gripping film that exposes the soul of contemporary Algerian society.
Finally, the Chester Beatty Library will show Caramel, a comedy set in a beauty salon in Beirut, which provides a haven for five women, each with busy and complex personal lives. With the support of their friends in their familiar salon, the women search for the answers to questions of life, love and happiness in Nadine Labaki’s charming 2007 film.
Tickets for screenings at the IFI can be booked online or by calling the IFI Box Office on 01 679 3477. Admission to the screening of Caramel at The Chester Beatty Library is free and booking is not required. For more information see dublinarabicfilmfestival.ie
SCHEDULE
Friday, October 5
8pm Looking for Oum Kulthum (IFI)
Saturday, October 6
2pm Sheikh Jackson (IFI)
2pm Caramel (Chester Beatty Library)
4:10pm The Insult (IFI)
Sunday, October 7
2pm House in the Fields (IFI)
4pm Until the Birds Return (IFI)