Mideast fest topper pushes local pics

Peter Scarlet champions homegrown filmmakers

By ALI JAAFAR

BLUE MOOD: The fest will unspool more regional films this year, including Egyptian helmer Oussama Fawzi's 'True Color.'

LONDON -- It's all about change this year at Abu Dhabi's Middle East Intl. Film Festival with the arrival of former Tribeca exec director Peter Scarlet as fest topper. With the respected and experienced Scarlet now at the helm, hopes are high that the oil-rich emirate's fest will be able to deliver its undoubted potential in its third year. The first thing Scarlet has done is make sure that more films from the region are actually selected.

"When I came here, one of the ideas from the outset was, if you have something called the Middle East Film Festival, it ought to be representing the Middle East," Scarlet says. "There is strong work here. Most of us who troll these waters here are aware of that, and I'm happy to be presenting these films in the light that they deserve."

The result is that half of the pics in the fest's Black Pearl competish for narrative feature and documentary feature are of Middle East origin, including the world preems of Iraqi helmer Mohamed Al-Daradji's "Son of Babylon" and Egyptian helmer Oussama Fawzi's "True Color."

Unlike previous editions, this year's fest is opening with an Arab pic, Egyptian helmer Ahmed Maher's "The Traveller," starring Omar Sharif. Pic's name could easily apply to Scarlet himself. The seasoned fest director gained a reputation as a champion of Middle Eastern

cinema while at Tribeca. It's a facet of his programming which he's expanded even further since being tapped by Abu Dhabi earlier this year.

It helps that this year is proving the strongest for Middle Eastern cinema in living memory, spurred in no small part by an emerging new generation of first- and second-time Arab filmmakers.

"There is something going on over here," Scarlet says. "There are a bunch of young filmmakers who understand the East-West situation better than the older generation. They're smart, hip and they're making noncommercial films, which means they're not speaking the lowest-common-denominator language that cinema does everywhere."

While the latest installment, which unspools Oct. 8-17, boasts its highest-ever Middle East quotient, Scarlet and his team of programmers -- who include former Rome Film Fest co-artistic director Teresa Cavina as well as Arab film selectors Rasha Salti and Intishal al-Timimi -- have also ensured that Hollywood and world cinema in general are well-represented. The likes of Grant Heslov's "The Men Who Stare at Goats," Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant" and Gallic helmer Claire Denis' "White Material" are all included in the selection.

It is, however, the Middle Eastern contingent that Scarlet is determined to put front and center in his first year in charge.

"When one picks up a newspaper and reads headlines about the Middle East, there is so much despair and bloodshed, but there's something else going on in these films that is far more hopeful," he says. "At the same time, these directors are tackling problems that haven't been tackled before, and they're doing it sometimes without the support of, or in active opposition to, official film organizations in their countries.

"The growth of film festivals in Abu Dhabi, and also Dubai and Doha, is a hopeful sign for filmmakers that they don't have to restrict their dreams to becoming an Arab Steven Spielberg."

TIP SHEET

What: Middle East Intl. Film Festival

When: Oct. 8-17

Where: Abu Dhabi, United Emirates

Web: meiff.com