Titles in the Muhr Emirati category cross a spectrum of genres and touch on some controversial subjects.
If you've been to DIFF before, you'll know that the screenings with the longest standby queues are the locally made films competing in the Muhr Emirati category.
This year there are 10 Emirati short films in the section, a few less than last year, but ones that the festival's artistic director, Masoud Amralla Al Ali, thinks best reflect the country. "We wanted it to be compact, and these 10 films we thought represented Emirati diversity," he says. "There are so many genres in this section."
Among the line-up are six world premieres, including several thought-provoking looks at society. Mansoor Al Dhaheri's Mirage.net is a drama about a group of men who abuse social networks at the expense of women, while The Goat's Head focuses on the struggle of women to find a voice in a largely male-dominated society.
Perhaps the most interesting topic covered in the line-up is Amal Al Agroobi's documentary Half Emirati, exploring the lives of Emirati nationals whose mothers are not Emiratis.
"We basically look at how they're accepted socially and whether they're accepted socially," says Al Agroobi, who is half Syrian. "It's actually a big part of a deep-rooted problem. This issue is really huge but I could only really tackle a few things in a short film."
The film highlights such issues as how school bullying of half-Emirati children can have long-lasting psychological effects, and that considerations such as appearance often mean they're labelled as not being Emirati.
Underlining the problem, Al Agroobi claims that several people she was going to interview pulled out at the last minute. "They said they were ashamed and didn't want people to find out because they might be treated differently at work."
Despite bringing up such issues, the film does attempt to provide a positive outcome. "One of the characters says that in the end being 'half' means we're sort of like an ambassador because we understand a different culture, can communicate and really contribute to Emirati society."
Al Agroobi says she's not sure how people will respond to the film, and that it provoked anger and even tears from friends to whom she's shown it already.
Muhr Emirati 1 screens on Monday at 9pm and December 12 at 12.30pm, at Mall of the Emirates; Muhr Emirati 2 screens December 12 at 3.30pm and on December 15 at 9.15pm. Visit www.dubailfilmfestival.com for details
aritman@thenational.ae
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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What can victims do?
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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South Korea
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
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