Abu Dhabi Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Strong U.S. Presence

LONDON – Benh Zeitin's Beasts of the Southern Wild, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Ruby Sparks and Beth Murphy's feature documentary The List are among the titles boosting U.S. presence at this year's Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

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The festival also finds slots for Eugene Jarecki's documentary The House I Live In and features End of Watch, directed by David Ayer, Robert Zemeckis' Flight and Robert Redford's The Company You Keep.

With more than 80 movies and shorts unspooling during the year's event, the sixth edition of the festival is guaranteed a flashbulb-popping red carpet event with Nicholas Jarecki's Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere and Nate Parker, opening the shindig.

And with Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Redford (Company You Keep), Denzel Washington, John Goodman and Don Cheadle (Flight), Jake Gyllehaal (End of Watch) among the cast for the movies, Abu Dhabi is looking to draw the crowds for its festival.

This edition of the festival marks the first under the management of twofour54, as part of the plan to strategically align the festival alongside Abu Dhabi’s other media initiatives and related events, reinforcing Abu Dhabi as the creative hub for the region supporting film production.

Al Turki, Jarecki, Gere and Parker are all expected to be on hand for the red carpet event to herald the start of the festival which runs Oct. 11 through 20.

The announcement comes just a day after festival organizers appointed Saleh Karama director of the Emirates film competition strand.

Karama, an established Emirati novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director, takes up the reins from Ali Al Jabri who was promoted to director of ADFF earlier this year.