The Dubai International Film Festival’s Cinema of the World section, unveiled yesterday, features works from some of brightest directors, producers and scriptwriters from around the world. They include:
• Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, a black comedy directed by Alejandro G Iñárritu, about an over-the-hill actor (played by Michael Keaton), famous for portraying an iconic superhero, as he struggles to restore his credibility as an actor by staging a Broadway play.
• J C Chandor's A Most Violent Year, a thriller set in New York during the winter of 1981, one of the most violent years in the city's history, as an immigrant family attempt to expand their business amid rampant violence, decay and corruption.
• I'm Steve Lopez by Rajeev Ravi, a coming-of-age tale about the teenage son of an influential police officer who gets caught up in gang violence.
• Writer-director Jamshid Mahmoudi's debut feature – and Afghanistan's entry for the foreign-language Oscar – A Few Cubic Metres of Love, which tells the story of a factory in Tehran that illegally employs Afghan asylum seekers.
• Céline Sciamma's Girlhood, the story of a girl struggling to find meaning in life in a tough suburban neighbourhood of Paris.
• What We Do in the Shadows, a horror mockumentary about a trio of vampires living in New Zealand and struggling to adapt to life in the 21st century, co-directed by and starring Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.
• Snow, directed by Mehdi Rahmani, a view of Iran's struggling middle class.
• Reza Dormishian's I'm Not Angry!, a heartbreaking love story set in Tehran during the recent political protests.
• The Good Lie, directed by Philippe Falardeau, about the lives of children orphaned by the brutal Civil War in Sudan that began in 1983.
• Bikas Ranjan Mishra's Four Colors, about a boy in rural India who wants to go to school like his older brother but struggles in a village steeped in caste-hierarchy.
• X+Y, directed by Morgan Matthews, the tale of a socially awkward teenage maths prodigy as he struggles to connect with other people.
• DIFF’s 11th edition runs from December 10 to 17. Visit www.dubaifilmfest.com
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