The Picturehouse, the first cinema in the UAE dedicated to arthouse, independent and award-winning classics, opened recently at Reel Cinemas in The Dubai Mall.

The Picturehouse has lined up five debate-rousing movies between now and the end of January.

The opening attraction is Paper Heart featuring Charlyne Yi, who embarks on a journey across America to make a documentary about the one subject she doesn’t fully understand - love.

She joins the film’s director Nicholas Jasenovec as they talk to strangers, scientists, bikers, romance novelists and children in search of answers and advice. But it is when Charlyne meets Michael Cera, a boy after her own heart, that her pursuit to discover the nature of love takes on a fresh new urgency and she risks losing the person closest to her.

Other forthcoming attractions include 'In The Loop,' a no-holds-barred political satire about two super-power presidents ready to go to war; 'Cold Souls,' a soul-searching comedy featuring Paul Giamatti as himself agonizing over his role in a Chekov play; 'No One Knows About Persian Cats,' the Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi about Iran’s underground Rock scene; and 'The Shock Doctrine,' an investigation of disaster capitalism.

Each movie will run for between two and three weeks at a time at The Picturehouse, said Gordon Kirk, general manager, Reel Cinemas.

"The Picturehouse represents a new wave in cinema in the UAE. For serious movie lovers, it will bring a wide array of exciting classics, arthouse and independent films, which will spark debates amongst our patrons," he remarked.

"The Picturehouse will also screen critically acclaimed films and movies from the Arab World, thus offering the first of its kind platform to promote local talent."

Suhaimi Rafdi, chief executive officer, Cathay Organisation said the Picturehouse was Singapore’s first arthouse cinema. "It has been showcasing cutting edge and critically acclaimed films since 1990 and has played an important role in Singapore’s cinematic history."

"When we were developing the Reel Cinemas brand, there was no doubt that we would introduce The Picturehouse as one of its key unique features in Dubai and we hope it will play an important role in the development of UAE cinemas. Boasting a multi-cultural population, Dubai is the perfect fit for an arthouse cinema with a wide audience of varied nationalities and cinematic sensibilities," he added.

As a special offer to celebrate the opening of The Picturehouse, Reel Cinemas has introduced The Picturehouse Passport, a booklet of tickets valid for the first five movies to show on The Picturehouse screen. This passport will be priced at Dh100 ($26.2), a discount of Dh50 off the regular price.

Developed by Reel Entertainment, the joint venture of Emaar Retail and Singapore-based premier entertainment provider Cathay Organisation Holdings, Reel Cinemas at The Dubai Mall houses 22 screens and is the largest in Dubai.-TradeArabia News Service