Black Box Cinema returns to ADIBF

Underlining the importance of motion pictures to the emirate's overall cultural scene, the 25th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, ADIBF 2015, will feature for the second consecutive year the Black Box Cinema project by Emirati filmmaker, Nawaf Al Janahi.

Building on the success of last year's experience which was dedicated to UAE films and screened in a mini-theatre accompanied by workshops and discussion panels, ADIBF 2015, has broadened the horizon of Black Box Cinema's programme to include movies from different Arabic countries.

"Black Box Cinema was very well received when we first introduced it in ADIBF 2014, as movie shows attracted more than 1,000 viewers and the level of interaction across all workshops and seminars was truly remarkable. Besides, Black Box Cinema's ‘Wall' feature, which enabled visitors to express what cinema meant to them, was the talk of the show. This motivated us to come back this year with a more intensive programme that offers more perspective on Arabic cinematic production, in a step that aims to promote the region's film industry and provide a platform for activating ideas and discussions about it" said Juma Al Qubaisi, ADIBF Director and Executive Director of the National Library.

Black Box Cinema's mini-theatre will this year show fourteen short movies, five of which are Emirati while the others are produced in Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon.

Five workshops will also be held throughout the event, including Emirati Cinema Facts by Nawaf Al Janahi, who offers an objective look at the Emirati film movement, ABC of Writing Film Critique by Hauvick Habechian, discussing the basics of writing a film article, and From the Book to the Screen by Marwan Hamed, director of Yaacoubian Building, who traces the journey of the story from literature to film-making.

ADIBF 2015, organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, is celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year, and is the region's fastest-growing book fair, that attracted more than 1,125 publishing houses last year with more than 100 authors and intellectuals of several nationalities participating in its seminars and discussions.

More than 248,000 people visited ADIBF 2014 and sales were up to Dh35 million.

ADIBF was launched by the late Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the UAE, in 1981 under the designation of the Islamic Book Fair, which would, in 1986, become the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.
Source: WAM