The Dubai International Film Festival

Dubai is fast becoming a major cultural hub of the world and a preferred holiday destination for many international tourists. But about a decade and a half ago Dubai was nowhere on the tourist map. So what led to this phenomenal growth and popularity? The Dubai government understood that the huge profits made through high crude prices would not last forever and needed to be channelled into more stable and long term industries that would bring a steady inflow of investment and revenue. Hence investments were made in infrastructure and boost was given to the real estate Dubai, retail and tourism industries. Real estate Dubai today is attracting huge foreign investments and with state of the art infrastructure more and more multinationals are setting up office here. The environment is quite conducive to do business with various tax benefits, special laws being set up for the benefit of businessmen and investors. The rich and the famous from around the world are thronging to the desert city, some even settling there permanently. Spectacular events of international stature have become the talk of the town and the many of Hollywood’s richest and well known celebrities are finding Dubai to be quite an accommodating place. International bands, singers and other live acts frequent the city and with more and more venues coming up the entertainment scene is only going to get hotter.

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) is one of the major events that is organised annually. This is probably the second most popular events after the much awaited Dubai Shopping Festival that is a craze and tourists from all over the world come to see this amazing event. Off late DIFF as it is called has started attracting directors of critical acclaim and international fame who screen their films in this prestigious event.

The Dubai International Film Festival was started in December 2004 and the theme was ‘Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds’. This is exactly what the Festival has been doing in the past few years and with time has become a platform for young talented directors and producers to showcase their offerings. DIFF is under the honorary Chairmanship of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and is an entirely non-profit cultural event. It is hosted and organized by the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority.

DIFF not only showcases talent from all across the world but also serves as the platform for young Arabic talent. In 2006 the Muhr Award for Excellence was launched that is presented for outstanding performances in Arab Cinema. This formed kind of a scale to judging the indigenous home grown talent and helped young aspiring filmmakers and actors to present their talent across to audiences in the region as well as internationally. The Muhr Award was further divided into two separate categories this year as the Arab Muhr Award and the AsiaAfrica Muhr Award. A dedicated section for animation was also introduced. Since the initiation DIFF has served as the focal point for meeting of filmmakers and actors from different backgrounds and cultures and lead to much future collaboration. In the last four editions over 391 films, documentaries and short films have been screened from over 50 countries.

This year’s 5th Dubai International Film Festival (Dec 11 – Dec 18) was not just better and bigger than the previous years but even had greater participation. The festival saw 178 screening with 9 world premieres from 66 countries across the globe. The Circo de Bakuza which is a magnificent dance troupe and acrobatic act performed at the opening night of the Festival and simply enthralled the crowds. The vibrant colours and costumes spiced up the environment and left the audience wanting more. Venues for the various screenings and events included the Jumeirah's Bab Al Shams resort, Madinat Jumeirah, Mina A'Salam, the Burj Al Arab Hotel and The Arabian Resort.

Films specially meant to showcase the Arabic culture and traditions were the focus of the festival this time. This comprised the Arabian Nights segment which had thrillers, documentaries and even love stories from Europe and the Middle East. Antonia Carver the Arab Programme Consultant says “The aim of Arabian Nights is to reflect the dreams, imagination, ideas and aspirations of the Arab world, both defined geographically and as a people scattered around the globe. We are also honoured that a number of Arab cinema luminaries will be with us throughout the festival”. Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s 'Al Mor Wa Al Rumman' or the ‘Pomegranates and Myrrh’ will be one the first features by him at the festival. The film is set in the backdrop of Ramallah and tells the story of a free spirited dancer and his struggles. ‘Vietato Sognare’ or ‘Forbidden Childhood’ is another moving film set in Palestine that shows how disturbed and conflicted are the minds of the youth in the war torn region. Famous Iranian director Majid Majidi’s ‘The Song of Sparrows’ which has received critical acclaim all across the world is being screened at DIFF as well. The film is an eye opener and through many symbols shows how poverty and lack of opportunity can change the lives of people.

Some well know Hollywood celebrities like Brendan Fraser, Salma Hayek, Oliver Stone and many others graced the occasion. Celebrities from our India’s Bollywood who are quite popular in the city also did not miss the gala event. Celebrated director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra gave a sneak preview into his much awaited Dilli 6. Other famous stars included Abhishek Bacchan, Perity Zinta, Sonam Kapoor, Nandita Das and Anil Kapoor to name a few.

Overall the 5th Dubai International Film Festival was a grand success and it surely promises to be a much bigger event next year. It is truly living up to the theme with which it was started in 2004 and helping cultures understand and assimilate the good things from each other.

Celebrating Christmas In Dubai

Dubai has its own local festivals, however Christmas is also celebrated with immense joy and excitement by the Christians who have moved to Dubai. The Malls in Dubai have special events during Christmas, there are Christmas trees imported and all Christmas decorations are available for a perfect Christmas. The celebrations for Christmas starts on the night on 24th December, when Jesus Christ was born and this festival is relished till 6th of January, or the day child Jesus was visited by Wise Men, which is also celebrated as the Epiphany.

As compared to the dropping temperature in some countries, Dubai is far from experiencing approximately 30 degree celsius at that time. There are Santa Clauses put up in malls, huge Christmas trees are decorated and the supermarket shelves are stuffed with holidays treats. One can’t miss this festive season and enjoy the joy and excitement.

The Church Service
On Christmas people can attend the morning or the afternoon mass before attending the much crowed mid-night mass. On Christmas Eve, in several parishes carol signing is organised. Though most the emirates in the UAE have Churches which have scheduled services, organised weekly all through the year, however, in Jabel Ali St. Frances of Assisi Church has its door open for everyone on Christmas to attend the mass prayer. This Church also organises lunch for the poor on Christmas Day. The Protestants and the Roman Catholics celebrate Christmas on the 25 December, but Ethiopian, Greek and Syrian celebrate this festival on the 6th of January. Armenian Christians celebrate it on the 18th of January.

Food At Christmas
In the Middle East, people, traditionally visit friends in the morning and they are served liqueurs, coffee and sugared almonds. The Lunch consists of Kubbeh, which is made of burgul or crushed boiled wheat mixed with meat, salt pepper and onion accompanied with chicken and rice. Taking about UK, mince pies and Christmas pudding are most popular. The biggest attraction is the well prepared Turkey with Cranbury sauce and all the trimming it requires, accompanied with a minimum of six vegetable.

Christmas Trees
Far from polar temperatures, Dubai has now started importing authentic Christmas trees. These specially bred trees are imported to Dubai to be a part of lavish Christmas decorations in several hotels. Originally bred in North America, Nordmann fir trees are grown specially to adapt to high temperatures and are stored at zero degree Celsius for a long time. These trees are then exported to Dubai by Yorkshire Christmas Trees, the supplier. These trees are sent to Dubai within three weeks in a specially designed containers, so that they can survive the heat of Dubai.

Malls Upbeat the Festive Season
The malls in Dubai have set up extravagant decorations to contribute to the beauty of this festival. Its not only the beauty, but with an array of shops and eateries available, there are discounts and specialities available, which offers an extravagant variety to choose from.

The Mall of Emirate: A Norwegian spruce stands 13 metres high as a centre of attraction of the mall. This Christmas tree is set up as a charity event, to collect donations for Dubai Centre of Special Needs.

The Dubai Mall: This mall offers a stingray feeding display and sharks as a part of its Christmas decorations. The stores have special discounts which the visitors can take advantage of and get lured with the exciting offers.

Sharaf DG: This electronic store, has attractive offers over this festive period like in a competition with Sony, this store is offering 32inch LCD TV. It is also selling mobile phones at a discounted price for limited period.

Would Recession Impact the Festive Season
As recession has hit several major western countries, the power to spend for foreign nationals in Dubai has taken a toll. The Malls are facing certain difficulties while attracting consumers to spend. On the other hand, no one has complained about their business being negatively affected during this crisis period. According to a survey for six countries, Dubai caters to the best spending options while buying Christmas gifts. The rest are followed by US, UK, France, Germany and China. There are efforts made to boost business over Christmas, for example by The Dubai Mall. This mall has announced the opening of 100 stores and aims to have about 1200 stores by next year.

NIGHT LIFE IN DUBAI

Dubai has emerged as one of the most popular holidays destinations of the world. People round the globe are not only interested to search for business opportunities in Dubai; rather they are also crazy about the annual events held at Dubai. Events like shopping festival attract tourists from all parts of the world to visit Dubai. The place has a good mix of various nationalities though the majority remains to be the ones following Islamic traditions and beliefs. Some of the finest architecture well equipped with latest technology across the globe can be seen in Dubai. It has become a happening place with all the possible entertainment options well installed here. There are ample of options available to choose, for people of all age groups and for people of varied tastes.

Though there are certain restrictions which come along with the available entertainment options, but still there is scope for full enjoyment here. Dubai even has an active night life with a number of bars and nightclubs in the city.

For tourists and expatriates it is a must to check out the nightlife in Dubai. The atmosphere and overall aura of the place changes as night steps in. The place hosts a variety of events, attractions and impressive venues to kick start a fascinating night journey. Unlike most of the places in the rest of the world, which are popular for an interesting nightlife; Dubai does not have a specific lane or area meant for enjoying the nightlife here. There are various places all over Dubai where one can set the mood for a fun filled evening and nightlife. So it becomes all the more interesting to spot exciting places for a pleasurable night all over Dubai. Tourists and other fun lovers might require quite a few nights to explore the array of options the city has to offer!

FACTS RELATED TO NIGHTLIFE IN DUBAI
Although Dubai has a good amount of options available for an exciting nightlife; it even has certain restrictions which are to be strictly adhered here. Entry to a bar is only to people above 21 years of age. There are certain bars which permit people only above 25 years. The doormen are famous for their strict attitude; but as long you as you have girls in your group or at least one to accompany you they are liberal. There are almost no restrictions to the working hours of night clubs and bars except that all should close by 3 a.m.

Almost all the big hotels have their own bars, though recently many independent bars have emerged to cater to the requirements of people. Thursday and Saturday nights are the most happening nights of the entire week so people turn up in greater numbers on these days. Most of them are divided into themes which vary from international to Arabic to African to even Latin American. Alcohol consumption to expatriates is allowed after they attain a license. After the procurement of license they are free to buy and consume alcohol in their homes or at restaurants, bars and pubs.

As far as gambling is concerned; there are no casinos in Dubai as gambling is strictly against the Muslim culture. For party animals who love live music; there are some well talented home bands in Dubai. Besides, certain international spots, some big hotels also arrange live concerts for a season for the music lovers.

FAMOUS BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS IN DUBAI
Alamo
This place is a favorite of both the nationals and expatriates and gets exceedingly busy on the weekends after 10:30 onwards. This is located at the Dubai Marine Beach Resort and Spa in Tex/Mex restaurant, but the bar enjoys greater emphasis.

Atlantis
This is a very popular nightclub which gets really busy around the midnight. It is located next to Hard Rock Café and hosts programs of dancing girls and drum masters which adds all the more to the night fever. It has special ladies nights on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Apartment Lounge and Club
Open five days a week from Tuesdays to Saturdays; this lavish nightclub is located inside Jumeirah Beach Hotel and it offers some of the best music. The Fridays over here are busier as compared to the rest of the week as they are held in reserve for R&B, hip hop and soul.

Barasti Bar
This bar is hot spot especially for the splendid views it offers of the seaside. Located at the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina, this is a place where one can relax on a hot afternoon with a chilled drink.

Boudoir Nightclub
This nightclub is one of the most reputed nightclubs of Dubai. It is a Persian club and attracts majorly Lebanese crowd who enjoy a wide variety of music. This nightclub is located at the Dubai Marine Beach Resort and Spa.

Buddha Bar
This nightclub derives its name from the large Buddha statue which it has within the premises. It is located at the Grosvenor House West Marina Beach Dubai and it has a bar which serves a mixture of cocktails. It offers warm and friendly ambiance and prefers to stay down to earth.

Chi Nightclub
A very popular joint of the young generation, this nightclub is located at the Al Nasr leisure-land, close to the American Hospital. It is famous for having funk, and for organizing many theme nights to keep the younger crowd on toes.

So, finally it can be said that Dubai is a place buzzing with activity; it has high paced lifestyle and a young crowd working with a mindset of work hard and party harder. The nightlife in Dubai is such that it will not let you down with its variety of activities and pulsating events. The vibe of the city can be clearly seen in the electric nightlife of Dubai.

Dubai’s Fashion Parade

Dubai is known for its booming economy. There has been soaring trade between UAE and Europe, which has once again got this emirate at a recognizable platform in the international fashion industry. There are several shows and exhibitions arrange through out the city to encourage their fashion industry.

One such event was organised in partnership between Dubai World Trade Centre and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This exhibition presented top class fashion market aimed at showing latest trends in women’s wear, children’s wear, men’s apparel, swimwear, lingerie, footwear, sports wear and lather goods. This exhibition was organized to give a significant exposure to the retailers, sales mediators, buyers and distributors in the UAE and built relations with the international designer and fashion houses. 'PRESTIGE' has proved to be an excellent venue for fashion houses across Europe, the US and Asia to exhibit their brands and further understand GCC markets,' said Michael Mueller, Managing Director, Planetfair Dubai. 'With the number of shopping malls increasing at a dramatic pace and Dubai now established as an international business hub, it is vital for these brands to gain a foothold here and play a part in the region's rapidly growing fashion industry.'



Another astonishing event is the Dubai Fashion Week. Here designers from all over the globe get together to show their spectacular creation. This show has given great platform to 31 regional and international designers, who introduced their fall/winter collection 2008 in the Jumeirah Emirates Tower, Dubai. Some of the emerging designers, from all over the globe, had displayed their collection here, which would include Hatem Alhakeem, Loai Nassem, Mahmoud Hafiz and Hend Halawani from Saudi Arabia, Troy Costa and Rohit Mittal from India, Nili Zahar from Kuwait and Lamia Asudari, a UK based designer. Also, Rashmi Kumari, Muskan Taurani and Deeya Nanda have displayed their debut collections. "DFW is a trade event and our aim is to provide an exclusive platform for the development of the region's fashion industry. We want to focus on offering retail buyers, fashion professionals and the media an inside look into the latest collections from designers in the region and help generate increased exposure and revenue in the industry," said Rohit Sabikhi, Director - Fashion at Concept Events. "We have now moved to a bigger venue so that we can provide better facilities such as spacious exhibition areas, a media centre and a buyers lounge to further facilitate business opportunities for the established and emerging designers," he added.

On the final day of this event, Jasbir Jamani and Buffi Jashanmal, UAE based designers and Lebanese talent Krikor Jabotian have displayed their third edition of ‘Splash Emerging Talent'. There was also a preview of the Islamic Fashion Festival which will present prayer attire, abayas, shaylas and contemporary Islamic wear. These opulent collection would be presented by the renowned designers from India, Gulf, Europe, Malaysia and Indonesia.

"There is increasing enthusiasm for Dubai Fashion Week and each new season reflects this with a growth in interest," the Director of Fashion and Concept events Rohit Sabikhi said.

Therefore, these fashion parades are the platforms to offer exclusive development to the region’s fashion industry. The focus of retail buyers, media and the fashion professionals will take Dubai’s fashion industry at unimaginable heights.