The Circuit

What would compel a journalist into the air, 16 hours and two stopovers later, to land in a desert city to watch films that he's already seen at three other festivals? 

Gobs of money helps. 

Not the back-pocket, kick-back kind, but the tourist-attraction kind.  The kind that fertilizes an opulent beauty on a blank canvas, or in terms of Abu Dhabi, the kind that puts an indoor snow slope inside a mall.  While the pyramids of Egypt are only a loose association, there is a degree of similarity.  Abu Dhabi’s quest is for eternal cultural respect.  The pharaohs would finish a single portal to heaven in 20 years.  Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s ruler until 2004 and chief architect, built the city of Abu Dhabi in 30 years, now with a population of 1.8 million.  To touchdown in such an immense city that’s younger than you is quite humbling.

The city’s Middle East International Film Festival advertises its money.  "The richest city in the world." "The richest prize in the world." Any Google search of the Emirates Palace, the seven-star (or is it eight?) hotel where the festival takes place, yields this number - 3,000,000,000.  Which is, of course, how much it cost the government to build. 

First festivals bring the contrasts to mind. 

There was the first annual Athens Film Festival in Georgia, where a colleague and I literally helped an over-extended, rookie festival director write up an awards press release.  Meaning we wrote it for her.  So flustered she was that when it came out of her printer she passed it right back to us, asking if we would include it in our write-ups.  

There was the inaugural Tribeca fest, born from the WTC rubble, towers that we watched fall from cracked Lower East Side windows and Toronto film fest hotels.  A short time later Tribeca almost lost its city-wide goodwill by raising ticket prices 50%, sparking debate on whether a “festival experience” should cost more. 

The SXSW Film Festival began primarily as a trade show, putting its program and filmmakers in an unfortunate second position.  First film festivals are often so much trouble that a film journalist I know has a standing policy to never attend their first or even second year events.

But a first fest sets a foundation; it starts the record.  How they evolve is sometimes not how they start.  As expected, Athens didn't survive, though it tried.  It changed its leadership and name to Kudzu - the same name of a southern, non-native vine that chokes and destroys forests, and apparently festivals, even if Michael Stipe sponsors them.

But SXSW has come a long way, now factoring as a must-stop on the circuit.  It got there namely by doing what festivals should do - discovering, highlighting, and showcasing local talent.  If they get lucky, they may even happen upon a movement (though woe be to filmmakers caught up in that moniker, in these 2.0 days). 

What will the MEIFF be remembered for?  After the money is spent, after Harvey Weinstein and Jon Fitzgerald leave, what will remain in this young city?  Its Film Financing Circle and Middle East Spotlight on Arab Cinema are the festival’s most unique assets.  They have the promise to bring more honor and respect to this booming city than any indoor, snow-covered peak can.

Some may feel it's expecting too much to think an inaugural festival should reflect its region's film imprint on the world - no matter how conflicted that part of the world is. 

I think it's the least one should expect.  As Abu Dhabi's MEIFF and Dubai's fest evolve and emerge, The Circuit will be looking for them to live up to it.