The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) officially inaugurated its fifth season Sunday, unveiling the various competitions, events and names that will contribute to making it increasingly prominent on the cinema world stage.

Festival Chairman Abdul Hamid Juma announced that DIFF, taking place at Madinat Jumeirah from December 11-18, will feature 181 films from 66 different countries from the Arab World and across the globe, highlighting the event’s motto, Building Cultures, Meeting Minds. From India, DIFF will welcome Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who will be in Dubai to unveil the first look at their work-in-progress, Delhi 6;



Anil Kapoor and Freida Pinto will come to promote their Slumdog Millionaire; Preity Zinta, Honourary Chair of amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS Dubai event and lead of Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth, for which she won Best Actress at the Chicago Film Festival earlier this year; and Nandita Das, who will promote her directorial debut Firaaq. South Indian superstar Mamooty will also grace the proceedings.


Hollywood heartthrobs Nicholas Cage and Brendan Fraser will heat up the cool desert nights at DIFF 2008, along with Oliver Stone, Danny Glover and Eliza Bennett. Nicolas Cage will attend with legendary producer Charles Roven (The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, the Brothers Grimm), who will receive a Filmmaker of the Year award at DIFF 2008. Salma Hayek, Goldie Hawn and Laura Linney are all set to grace the 2008 amfAR red carpet.

From the Arab world, we will see Yasmina Khadra, Carmen Lebbos, Sameer Ghanem, Sameer Sabri, Jameel Rateb, Yahya Al Fakhrani, Hicham Saleem, Saeed Saleh, Sabah Al Jazayari, Salaf Fawakharji, Tayyam Hasan, Samer Al Masri and Jamal Sulaiman.

GCC stars include Saad Abdullah, Mohammed Al Mansoor, AbdurRahman al Aqal, Tareq Al Ali, Lateefa Al Majran, Suaad Ali, Abdul Mohsin Al Namar, Nasir Al Qasbi, Abdul Aziz Jasim and Ghanem Al Saliti. The UAE will be well represented by Ahmed Al Jasmi, Jaber Naghmoosh, Habeeb Ghaloom, Moza Al Mazroohi, Ahmed Al Ansari, Marwan Abdullah Saleh, Maree al Halyan amongst many others.

The Cultural Bridge Panel will attract Indian-Canadian master filmmaker Deepa Mehta, Canadian journalist Cameron Bailey, the legendary singer Harry Belafonte and Algerian novelist Mohammed Molessehoul.