RIP Dubai International Film Festival (2004-2017)
During this time of the year, I (and many cinemagoers in Dubai), would be preparing for the Dubai International Film Festival, going over the programme and planning on what films to see. But sadly, those days are gone.
On April 18, 2018 we woke up to news about the possible demise of the film festival. Screen Daily wrote Mystery swirls around future of Dubai International Film Festival and Hollywood Reporter published Future of Dubai International Film Festival in Doubt.
There were discussions on Twitter and personal messages lamenting the news. It was hard to believe and during the course of the day, news was spreading that the entire DIFF team were let go. At the end of that day, an official statement was announced on DIFF’s social media account.
This is what was posted on Twitter.
A press release titled DIFF announces new approach to support growth of region’s film and content industry stated “The Festival will occur every two years with the 15th edition, which will reflect DIFF’s changed strategy, confirmed to be hosted in Dubai in 2019.” and included a statement by Jamal Al Sharif, Chairman Dubai Film and TV Commission (a quote from DIFF Chariman Abdulhamid Juma was noticeably absent from the release).
“With the vast changes taking place both in the regional and global movie-making and content industry, we are seeking to redefine the Dubai International Film Festival’s approach towards nurturing growth, creativity and talent. Innovative new approaches and technologies are transforming the distribution of content and the craft of movie-making. As a forward-thinking player in the global film industry, DIFF seeks to embrace the future of the industry through this strategic shift.
“The Festival will continue its significant contribution to the development of the industry, as we look forward to celebrating with the public, film lovers and industry professionals in 2019. We will announce the final dates, details and the new programme as soon as confirmed.”
After reading the released news, most of us knew there will be no 15th edition in 2019. The announcement felt more like a saving face tactic, after the articles published in Screen Daily and Hollywood Reporter.
But deep down I was still hoping it will return. DIFF’s social media account continued (and continues) to post updates from other film festivals, as if the DIFF office still exists or participates at these festivals.
Soon after the DIFF website disappeared and what remains is a holding page saying “We’ll be back soon”. It’s been like this for months and there’s no sign of the original website. I’m worried that 14 years of the festival has disappeared, without any attempt save the website and its archive as a historical reference. (I tried calling the number listed several times, but no one answered, and whoever is running the social media account does not respond to any questions or comments addressed to it.)
Fast forward to October 27 this year, Arabian Business published an article announcing a new festival - ON.DXB to focus on regional talent, content as Dubai 'moves on' from DIFF.
Dubai “had to move on” from the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) to focus on rapidly changing technology and content and focus more on the work of Emirati and Arab filmmakers, according to Jamal Al Sharif, the CEO of the Dubai Film and TV Commission.
On Wednesday, the Dubai Film and TV Commission and Dubai Media City announced the line-up for On.DXB, a regional festival designed to support industry growth and talent development in media, entertainment and content development. The event will focus on films, music, online content and video games.
Jamal Al Sharif, now the CEO of the Dubai Film and TV Commission was quoted in the article stating ON.DXB was an example of a festival that had “morphed”, “event names, or event brand names, eventually change depending on the era and place we’re in”, Dubai is “experimenting with a whole new media industry”.
“On.DXB should be complementing other events that we did in the past,” he added. “We learned a lot from the other events, therefore we’re not missing film. Film will be there.”
“I’ve been asking the team to focus more on local and regional films. I’m really keen on developing more local talent,” he said. “It’s beautiful to see Hollywood and Bollywood films. We’ve grown with these films, but we want to evolve. It’s time to tell the world what the UAE has to tell, and what our story is.”
In the future, Al Sharif said that Dubai hopes to do “something bigger” than DIFF.
“We can do bigger than the rest of the world,” he said.
At the last edition of DIFF in 2017, the opening remarks of Noura Al Kaabi, UAE’s Minister of Culture & Knowledge Development stated the importance of film and cinema. It made me wonder does a decision like cancelling an important cultural event like DIFF go through the Minister of Culture & Knowledge Development or is it yet another corporate decision in Dubai outweighing its cultural importance and legacy?
There wasn’t enough public outcry in 2018 about the disappearance of DIFF, especially by the filmmaking community in the UAE. If there was any outcry, it was probably behind closed doors. It is, after all, a small filmmaking community and no one wants to burn bridges. Would things have been different if there was a bigger public outcry, or if an appeal was made to the Ministry of Culture? Who knows?
Going through the programme and line up of ON.DXB, it is more like a media mash up festival, targeting the Gen Zs with talks about ‘content’ and ‘platforms’ and influencers, social media, game industry. The line up of speakers/moderators, reminded me of a friend who once described certain Dubai social media personalities as legends in their own timelines.
The program included live music, film screenings (a handful of films from the festival circuit, plus local and regional films).
The biggest name invited to ON.DXB was Spike Lee. I must say it was an odd choice. For an event that wants to “focus more on the work of Emirati and Arab filmmakers”, why only invite a big name Hollywood film director? Why not invite renowned filmmakers from the Arab world? And if the Spike Lee talk was promoted as the main event, then at least do a film focus in his honour or at least screen one of his films in the programme.
Additionally, the UAE is such a diverse country with filmmakers from around the world, so why always focus on Arab filmmakers only?
The main talks including Spike Lee at ON.DXB was for industry ticket holders which cost AED 950 (approximately USD 260), student pass AED 500 (approximately USD 140), regular daily tickets was AED 100 (approximately USD 30). I have no idea who was expected to pay AED 950 or AED 500. Leading up to the festival, lots of 50% discount codes were announced, and on the day of the festival, ticket prices were reduced to AED 50 (approximately USD 13). As another friend said, ON.DXB is like the Pierre Cardin of film festivals (referring to all the “Pierre Cardin” discounted shops in Dubai).
The festival was run by a PR agency and I suspect, as things normally happen in this town, they weren’t given enough time to work on it. But it was also clear the PR agency wasn’t specialised in cinema.
For full disclosure, I was approached by the PR agency to contribute to the film program, but due to the lack of time to work on it and budget limitations from their end I declined.
I understand the reasons for having a festival focusing on all forms of media and targeting a younger audience. But it is hard to accept it as an alternative to DIFF.
I don’t understand why cancel a film festival that played a role in the region. The film market benefitted local and regional filmmakers, there was Enjaz, a funding programme for films, and of course the week long program of film screenings which had an audience that returned every year.
Film festivals shift focus, rethink its strategy, scale and programming. DIFF could’ve done that if it was going through challenging times. It could’ve taken a year off to rethink its strategy instead of coming up with a Gen Z version of TED talks.
ON.DXB doesn’t elevate film culture in the UAE or the Arab world and everyone involved is implicit in this. If anything, film and filmmaking culture appears to have regressed in the UAE.