4th Gulf Film Festival celebrates the charm of children’s movies with a colourful international showcase
Nine children’s films from around the world will screen free to the public at Dubai Festival City from April 14 to 20, as part of the fourth Gulf Film Festival. The nine short films, from Canada, France, the United States, Taiwan, Denmark and Switzerland, are a combination of animation, comedy, and adventure.
The films, which explore life through the eyes of children, science fiction and folklore, will screen on Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16, at the Grand Cinemas. They are part of the 150-plus features, documentaries and shorts from the region and around the world screening as part of the GFF. The Festival is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).
From France, the award-winning films Aleksandr by Remy Dereux, Maxime Hibon, and Juliette Klauser, narrates the story of Aleksandr the knitter, who lives suspended above the clouds with his village; while the globally acclaimed Fly Me Out from Taiwan by Li Qian, Fabrice Lau-Tim-Ling, and Florence Bichon follows a young boy who is passionate about flying.
From Canada, Lee Chambers’ When Life Gives You Lemons is a heart-warming tale about being the best salesman you can, via a battle to sell the most lemonade in a neighborhood. The vibrant spirit of an unsupervised tribe of 75 children evokes hopes for the future in Alla Kovgan’s New London Calling from the United States; and Swiss production Ronaldo, directed by Jan Mettler, is an action adventure focused on a boy who dreams of being a great soccer star.
Inspired in equal measure by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg’s The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story-telling.
Things go awry when two buddy tree frogs team up on a quest to find food in the Amazon rainforest, and the hunters become the hunted in Sam Chen’s Amazonia, while a young girl’s curiousity leads her on a wild chase behind a firefly in Yu-Chuan Kao’s Firefly.
A dice-worker, who lives in black and white, uses a dice to decide everything he does. He is suddenly surprised when his dice roll results in the opening of a door into a coloured life in Chung-Hui Lai’s Diceman.
The nine short films will be screened together as a single package.
The fourth edition of the Gulf Film Festival will be held at the InterContinental Hotel, Crowne Plaza and Grand Cinemas at Dubai Festival City. The 2011 Festival includes out-of-competition segments, a master class by renowned director Abbas Kiarostami and other special events. All films are free and open to the public.
The festival is supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and is held in association with Dubai Studio City. More details on the festival are available online at www.gulffilmfest.com.
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