The Circuit

by Stephen Garrett
Nothing in the Middle East is quite as surreal as watching Arabic men in flowing white robes walk by a trio of ten-foot Christmas trees in the lobby of the Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa. The hotel, home to many of the Dubai International Film Festival's visiting journalists, has a staff which happily dons Santa caps, as well as a restaurant that plays standards like Elvis' "Blue Christmas" during breakfast.

What would Allah say?

"Oh, it's not religious, of course," says Susan Probert, DIFF's guest liaison and a Dubai resident for the past four years. "It's just about Santa Claus and giving presents."

Anything to entice that consumerist urge, in a city where the biggest tourist attractions are the massive shopping gallerias. One of the most famous, the Mall of the Emirates, houses the CineStar, DIFF's main venue for public screenings. (It also boasts everything from a Starbucks to a Sunglass Hut; American teens would fit right in.) The multiplex, nestled between a Border's bookshop and a food court with a Chili's, and just upstairs from the Virgin Megastore, is a handsome exhibition hall with 8 of its 12 screens devoted to festival screenings.

DIFF incorporates a total of five venues for its activities, only two of which - the Madinat Arena and the Madinat Theater - are within walking distance. All others require taking a shuttle bus, a taxi or a personal car. The dispersion is understandable for such a young upstart, but really should be remedied if DIFF wants to gain in reputation and status. Festivalgoers need a better locus that makes it impossible not to mingle and network - an equivalent to Berlin's Potsdammer Platz, Cannes' Croisette and Venice's Lido.

Perhaps DIFF's parent company, Dubai Holdings, will reach into its pocket and fund a headquarters, much in the same way The Toronto International Film Festival Group is consolidating their activities under one roof. (It's not like putting up a new complex would cause a blemish in a city that's already a virtual construction pit, where literally dozens of 30-story buildings are in various states of completion and construction cranes dot the landscape like traffic lights.)

Still, the festival is doing a commendable job not only representing cinema of the Middle East but also creating opportunities for these filmmakers. "All the world comes to Dubai," says Nabil Ayouch, whose debut feature, "Mektoub," won the top prize at the Cairo Film Festival and whose charming romance "Whatever Lola Wants" had its world premiere on Tuesday night. "The city is a crossroads; it's the Hollywood of the Arab world. And the festival is really putting a spotlight on Arabic cinema as we try to build an identity for ourselves and show our complexity."

When asked about other festivals in the region, Ayouch points beyond the 31-year-old Cairo Film Festival to the more recently established ones. "Dubai and Marrakech are the best," he says. "The good news is that one is in Africa and one is in the Middle East. The bad news is that they're so close together on the calendar." Indeed: Ayouch left Wednesday to appear at Thursday night's international premiere of "Lola" - at the 7th Marrakech Film Festival.