Hotly anticipated US crime comedy Life of Crime, starring Jennifer Aniston and Tim Robbins, will open the seventh Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard – who also wrote the source material for Tarantino’s Jackie Brown – director Daniel Schechter has described the movie as a ‘dream project’.
This is just one of 94 feature and 72 short films to be shown at this year’s festival, which runs from October 24 and November 2.
Other highlights include Only Lovers Left Alive, a vampire thriller from cult hero Jim Jarmusch starring Tilda Swinton, and hotly tipped Japanese anime Patema Inverted, from Yasuhiro Yoshiura.
This year will have a strong focus not only on international films, but also Arabic and Indian cinema, which recently celebrated 100 years of Bollywood.
The festival will also include two awards in partnership with the Child Protection Centre (Ministry of Interior). The two awards, the Child Protection Award for best film and best script will win US$70,000 and US$30,000 respectively. The award is to raise awareness about neglected and abused children.
With entries from 51 countries including 49 in the Emirates Film Competition; organiser, Ali Al Jabri said he was ‘very happy with the UAE talents in this edition of the festival.’
For more information on the festival see www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae.
