Dubai’s Children’s International Film Festival begins

The third annual Children’s International Film Festival (CIFF) was opened on Friday showcasing a lineup of 117 films from 66 countries. Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, the two-day festival will also showcase 61 ‘Made in the UAE’ films, by students, all for children. Hosted at Vox Cinemas in Mall of the Emirates, the 117 films range over 55 languages, and include the Oscar-nominated, ‘Boy and the World’ and award winning German feature film ‘My Friend Raffi’. Opening the festival, His Highness and Minister of Culture stated: “The creation of films virtually defines entrepreneurship. The UAE students who made films for the CIFF competition are glowing examples of entrepreneurs. They all took a chance. They thought and imagined and decided to make a movie. They had a vision of the end product, the film. They knew that they would never produce that film unless they planned – planned perhaps more carefully than ever before in their young lives." The festival is open to the public.