2010-01-04 11:35:34
WAM Abu Dhabi, Jan 4th, 2010 (WAM) -- The Middle East International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi today announced the dates for fourth edition of the Festival which will be held in October 14 - 23, 2010, in Abu Dhabi.

The Festival, organized by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, also sought Entries for narrative and documentary features as well as for short films in all genres on the 1st of April 2010 until the 1st of July. Complete information regarding eligibility for the 2010 Middle East International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi will be available in late January 2010.

Eissa Al Mazrouei, Director General of MEIFF commented "Middle East International Film Festival aims to consolidate the status of Abu Dhabi as an emerging cultural center, and to promote the growth of the local film society. The festival celebrates cinema in all its forms, by creating a lively forum brings together storytellers from the Middle East and the world".

The Festival showed 128 films from 49 countries and saw attendance at screenings double 2008's numbers to reach more than 31,000 people.

As in previous years, the Festival welcomed major stars from Hollywood, Bollywood and the Middle East, including Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts, two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, Demi Moore, Eva Mendes, Orlando Bloom, Freida Pinto, fashion designer Jason Wu, Zayed Khan, Lara Dutta, Akshay Kumar, Oscar-winner A. R. Rahman, Hend Sabry, Mahmoud Hemeda, Biyouna, Khaled Abol Naga, Golshifteh Farahani and Sawsan Badr.

Vanessa Redgrave was the recipient of the Festival's first Black Pearl Lifetime Achievement Award.

2009 marked the first time that the prize money for the Festival's Black Pearl Awards, which again totaled more than $1 million, included funds to support the completion of key Middle Eastern films selected by the Festival's programming team. The recipients this year were Son of Babylon by Mohamed Al-Daradji, which world premiered at MEIFF before being selected for Sundance and Berlin, Port of Memory by Kamal Aljafari, which also world premiered at the Festival, and We Were Communists by Maher Abi Samra, which screened as a work in progress.

WAM/ES/AM