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E. Nina Rothe

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The Diaries, because sometimes life needs more. 

DIFF 2017

Wait, did you really think the Dubai International Film Festival was coming back?

E. Nina Rothe December 9, 2019

Because if you did, I’ve got some swampland in Florida I’d love to sell you. Along with a few magic beans that grow into diamonds.

Honestly, from the moment I stepped off that last red carpet at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, in 2017, I knew the festival was done. In fact, the headline of my wrap-up piece for the 14th edition of DIFF was “Following the Dubai International Film Festival, Where Does Arabwood Go Now?” Yes and that was months before the official decision to skip the festival in 2018 and reformat its approach. There was a dark cloud in the crisp desert sky and it loomed above the festival throughout. My headline was just what my heart told me to write, regardless of my personal feelings towards that weird last edition.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags DIFF, Dubai International Film Festival, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, Arab cinema
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5a461ae61c00003c0068daff.jpg

Following the Dubai International Film Festival, Where Does Arabwood Go Now?

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

“Are you ready for us to make history again?!”

As I stepped into one of the magnificent Majlis — literally translating as a “place of sitting” from the Arabic — a meeting room inside the Madinat Jumeirah complex to catch up with the Chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival, Abdulhamid Juma uttered those words. I was taken aback for a moment and then I remembered that throughout the six years I’ve attended DIFF, I’ve sat down with him and together, we’ve come up with some of best questions about Arab cinema, its place in the world and its importance in dispelling stereotypes and breaking down walls. 

This year, I came to DIFF with a heavy heart and I leave it still wondering if all the efforts — personal and collective have been worth it. We’ve witnessed how easily the mighty of the film stratosphere can be taken down in Hollywood when no longer of use to their business partners, destroying careers that should be looked at with respect, regardless of these men’s questionable behavior. We seem to have forgotten that “the casting couch” is a term as old as the movies themselves. Now we just “throw out the baby with the bathwater” as the old saying goes...

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In Cinema, Festival, Interviews, The Diaries Tags DIFF17, Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai, Arabwood, Abdulhamid Juma, Arab cinema, Cate Blanchett, Sofia Coppola, Greta Gerwig, Wajib, Annemarie Jacir, Mohammad Bakri, HH Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Muhr Awards, Palestine, Elia Suleiman, Hany Abu Assad, President Obama, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Oscars, Saudi Arabia, Haifaa Al Mansour, IWC Filmmaker Award, Saad Hariri, Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Shivani Pandya, women filmmakers, women film journalist, Dubai Film Market, women journalists
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFA view of Madinat Jumeirah on the opening night of the 14th Dubai International Film Festival

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

A view of Madinat Jumeirah on the opening night of the 14th Dubai International Film Festival

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Couldn’t Have Done It Without You, Madinat Jumeirah!

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

Anyone who has ever had to travel for work knows, deeply and personally, how important a hotel room can be. 

For me, while I spent eight nights and nine days at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival, the Mina A’Salam hotel, in Madinat Jumeirah provided a home away from home, the perfect place to get away from it all and write, not to mention my very own soft place to fall. All rolled up into the perfectly glamorous package of a luxury 5-star plus hotel.

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In Cinema, Fashion, Festival, The Diaries Tags Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai, DIFF17, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Hotels, Mina A'Salam, Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Al Qasr, Al Naseem, Il Borro, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tuscan food, cinema, Arab cinema, Middle East, UAE, Florence, Talise Spa, Bushra, Mattar Bin Lahej, turtle sanctuary, Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project, Souchy'Z, Mirzam, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
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PHOTO COURTESY OF DISNEYAdam Driver as Kylo Ren

PHOTO COURTESY OF DISNEY

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and Why It Is a Fashionista’s Dream Come True

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

I wasn’t a huge fan of the last installment of ‘Star Wars’ titled ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, which closed the Dubai International Film Festival in 2016. I found the chemistry between Felicity Jones and Diego Luna like a couple of fingernails dragging on a blackboard. When they were — **spoiler alert!** — done away with, I was actually kind of happy. And that’s not how you should feel about intergalactic heroes, am I right?

Fast forward one year and I found inspiration and fun in another chapters of the ‘Star Wars’ saga which has been going on since I was a child!

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In Cinema, Fashion, Festival, The Diaries Tags Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, fashionista, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Kylo Ren, Disney, Middle East, UAE, Rian Johnson, May the Force be with you, Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Peter Cushing, General Leia Organa, Daisy Ridley, Laura Dern, Kelly Marie Tran, Lupita Nyong'o, Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker, Porgs, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin, Zero Gravity
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFBushra on the DIFF red carpet

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

Bushra on the DIFF red carpet

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Superstar Bushra, Costume Diva Alexandra Byrne and the Power of Great Women

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

We need more women film writers. Repeat after me. We need more women film writers and when they are published, those few random times, we need to support them.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries, Fashion Tags Bushra, Dubai, Egypt, Egyptian cinema, Arab Cinema, Alexandra Byrne, DIFF17, Dubai International Film Festival, Cairo 678, Arabwood, Bollywood, Hollywood, Golden Globes, El Gouna Film Festival, Al Qasr, Jumeirah, Mohamed Diab, Swarovski, BAFTA, The Avengers, Masters of the Galaxy, Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Shekhar Kapur, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Oscar winner
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PHOTO BY VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF“In Conversation with Morgan Spurlock” at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival

PHOTO BY VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

“In Conversation with Morgan Spurlock” at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Swarovski, Morgan Spurlock, ‘The Man Behind the Microphone’ and Cinemas in Saudi by 2018

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

What is heritage and how important is our connection to the past in shaping who we will be in the future? And if our ideals seem to clash with what our leaders are encouraging, or we simply can see beyond the chaos — are we right? Or does that make us just different... Those are all questions that have come up in the last 48 hours for me, at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries, Fashion Tags Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Swarovski, Morgan Spurlock, The Man Behind the Microphone, heritage, Madinat Jumeirah, Grace Jones, Philip Treacy, Marilyn, Michael Jackson, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey Hepburn, Alexandra Byrne, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Rats, One Direction: This is Us, USA, Big Chicken, Saudi Arabia, cinemas in Saudi, Arab cinema, UAE, VOX, AMC, Claire Belhassine, Hédi Jouini
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The Dubai Opera

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Sir Patrick Stewart, ‘Sharp Tools’ and ‘Harry Potter’ at the Opera

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

This place never ceases to surprise me. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, has stated that he wishes the Emirate to become an open air art gallery by the time it will host Expo 2020. And in fact, at every corner during my stay here for the Dubai International Film Festival, I’ve experience art, beauty and film.

I mean, where else in the world can you sit listening to Sir Patrick Stewart talk film and life, watch a cool cultural Emirati film like ‘Sharp Tools’ by Nujoom Al Ghanem and then walk over to a turtle sanctuary just behind your hotel, at Jumeirah Al Naseem all in one day? If you said Dubai, you got it.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags Sir Patrick Stewart, Dubai Opera, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Harry Potter, Sharp Tools, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Expo 2020, Nujoom Al Ghanem, turtle sanctuary, Jumeirah Al Naseem, Quentin Tarantino, Shakespeare, Henry V, Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, Hassan Sharif, art, cinema, arab cinema, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Potterheads
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Rob Reiner’s ‘Shock & Awe’, Claes Bang, Q’orianka Kilcher and Working Through the Madness

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

When the whole Hollywood sexual predator news broke back in October, I received a message from a colleague I’m connected with on Facebook. He pointed to the fact that as a woman, in light of the recent revelations, I would now find it much “impossible” to get one-on-ones with male stars and directors. The statement hit me and I felt an immediate pang of anxiety. I mean, my job as a woman, a blogger, someone who holds on to her personal opinions and is proud of going against the current if need be is already pretty difficult as it is. To add to that burden — because lets face it, even when diversity and/or equality are celebrated and demanded in the arts, it never really manages to trickle down to the media side of things — would only make my work impossible.

But DIFF has proven my colleague wrong, of course. I’ve never had more access, and more professional intimacy than what I’ve experienced here so far. I mean, the kind of face to face talks that mean so much to a writer, because in the end, you know they will help the pieces write themselves. The kind of great human connections that we all strive to create, across cultures, with different personalities and among our fellow humans.

What’s that saying DIFF? “Film Will Find You”? Yes, it always does, and helps me to discover the way back.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags DIFF17, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, Jumeirah, Madinat Jumeirah, Mina A'Salam, Claes Bang, Ruben Östlund, Best Foreign Language Oscar, The Square, Sweden, Shock and Awe, Rob Reiner, Woody Harrelson, Jonathan Landay, Iraq, Warren Strobel, Michael Marsden, fake news, NY Times, Washington Post, Q’Orianka Kilcher, Find Will Find You
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFSir Patrick Stewart and HE Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

Sir Patrick Stewart and HE Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Cate Blanchett, Sir Patrick Stewart, Irrfan Khan and ‘Hostiles’ Kick Off the 14th Edition of DIFF

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

Lets face it, it’s a frightening time to be alive. If a certain North Korean dictator doesn’t nuke us into oblivion first, maybe the recent decision regarding the status of Jerusalem by our President might just turn the wraths of the entire Muslim world population upon us. Admit it, you’re beginning to think this way, even if just a little bit...

And yet, here I am in the midst of the Arab world and film, the power of great cinema is helping me to get a grip on what it’s really like, once we step away from the frenzy of inflated CNN headlines and the anger that these days appears to be the sole motivation for so much around us. Because when we dig deep into our collective hearts, we all feel the same way, and if poked, we all bleed the same color blood. 

Even Shakespeare knew that to be true, more than five hundred years ago.

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In The Diaries, Festival, Cinema Tags Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Cate Blanchett, Sir Patrick Stewart, Irrfan Khan, Arab cinema, Middle East, Dubai, Shakespeare, Q’Orianka Kilcher, Hostiles, Scott Cooper, Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Giorgio Armani, Mohammed Saeed Harib, Emirates, UAE, VR, Film will find you, Rocky, The Wizard of Oz, The Italian Job, Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Gulf, HE Sheikh Mansour Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Abdulhamid Juma, Wahid Hamed
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