Showtime Arabia, the leading Pay-TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, is sponsoring the first Gulf Film Festival (GFF).

The event will be held in Dubai from April 13 to 18, 2008. The first initiative of its kind in the GCC will provide a platform to promote regional film making while positioning Dubai as the epicentre for fostering cinematic talent, said an official spokesman.

In addition to the sponsorship, Showtime will showcase 30 Gulf films along with interviews and sound bites from their filmmakers. The directors of the 30 selected films shown on the Showshasha channel will be rewarded with a financial benefit provided by Showtime.

“We are proud to support this great initiative which confirms our commitment to promoting the region’s most promising talent. This region proves that it thrives with young talents in many areas; our role as a media company is to offer them the right environment to excel,” said Showtime’s president and CEO Marc-Antoine d’Halluin.

GFF first edition will be dedicated to the best in cinema from the Gulf countries (the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Iraq and Yemen) along with select international films.

“The Gulf Film Festival is a prominent platform for showcasing the regional cinematic talent and we are delighted that one of the leading networks is supporting our initiative by taking the finest Gulf films to a larger audience,” said festival director, GFF, Masoud Amrallla Al Ali.

GFF aims to develop the local and regional film culture in the Gulf, creating greater opportunities for filmmakers from the Gulf to screen their films and develop future film projects. In celebrating the cinematic excellence of the region, GFF aims to become a destination festival that will showcase what Gulf cinema can offer to the International film community.

Beside the Official Competition, GFF will be comprised of several other programming segments: Out of Competition will show Gulf feature and short films that were not selected for the Official Competition; In Their Eyes will screen films made by non-Gulf national directors who reside in the Gulf region; the Best of Arab Short Films will feature films screened, or submitted, to the Muhr Awards for Excellence in Arab Cinema segment at the Dubai International Film Festival; Intersections will show short films from around the world; and In the Spotlight will showcase short films celebrating a particular director's experience, a cinematic movement, or a certain country. – TradeArabia News Service