A selection of 37 films from the GCC, UAE and Iraq will showcase the diversity of the regional film industry at an upcoming film festival in Sweden, said the Gulf Film Festival (GFF), an annual non-profit cultural event.

The Malmo Arab Film Festival (Maff) is set to run from September 28 to October 5.

This year marks the second time that GFF-supported films have been showcased at Maff, with 25 of the 37 films screening from the region endorsed by the GFF, an increase from 15 films last year.

The selected films, which range from shorts to features and documentaries, will take audiences at this year’s edition of Maff on a journey of enthralling cinematic discoveries, celebrating the vast strides filmmakers from the Gulf have made in creating a vibrant and inspiring regional film scene.

Of the 37 films participating in Maff this year, which are produced or co-produced in the region, five are co-produced Emirati films and ten films are produced by the UAE and the Gulf region including Iraq.

Seven films will be showcased at the “Emirates Films” programme outside Maff film competition and fifteen films will be presented in the programme “Cherries of Kiarostami’” outside the competition as well.

"The Gulf Film Festival (GFF) is delighted to continue its collaboration with the Malmo Arab Film Festival (Maff),” said GFF director Masoud Amralla Al Ali.

“One of GFF’s founding objectives is to cultivate opportunities for the region’s filmmakers to showcase their films internationally, and our partnership with Maff enables us to realise this vision.

“We are screening twenty-five GFF supported films at Maff this year, compared with fifteen films last year, which is a testament to the growing list of locally produced films and the large pool of talented up-and-coming filmmakers in the region. We hope that visitors of Maff enjoy the inspirational line-up from the Gulf,” he added.

Maff director, Mohamad Kablawi said: “Maff is thrilled to screen an even bigger line-up of films from the Gulf this year.  Our aim is to educate, inspire and entertain audiences with films from the Arab world and we are excited to showcase the incredible creativity from Gulf filmmakers and discover the next gems in Arab film.”

The list of guests of honor for this year’s Maff includes the Emirati directors Nujoom Alghanem and Nayla Al Khaja, in addition to a number of directors, producers and actors.

Films in the GFF showcase include Nujoom Alghanem’s “Amal”, winner of the Official Gulf Competition, a feature about a woman who arrives in the UAE full of hopes but finds herself struggling to achieve the bare minimum of her plans.

As part of the UAE Programme, Mariam Al Sarkal’s "London in a Headscarf", a documentary that follows the journey of an Emirati girl studying abroad will be shown, among others. – TradeArabia News Service