META Film Fest starts with the 22 screenings, gala premiere

More than 70 films from 25 different nations are being shown at the META Film Fest, a new international film festival focusing on the Middle East, Asia, and Africa’s film industries, which began on October 27 at the Vox Cinemas in Nakheel Mall in the Palm Jumeirah.

Today will signal a new beginning for the UAE’s entertainment sector thanks to a brand-new film festival that will raise the bar. Leila Masinaei, Festival Director and Managing Partner of Wonderful Minds Event Management, the organisation behind the META Film Fest, said: “It is a little step toward a great future for the Middle East’s expanding film industry that honours local and international content and talent.

“This symbolises a very firm first step for the regional film industry that will document the production and development of blockbusters that will be created in this part of the world in the years to come,” says the festival’s website.

The three-day film festival, which has the theme “Tolerance and Unity through Film,” began with the screening of three short films from the United Arab Emirates, including Deadline, Children of All, and IDI, as well as The Dawn of the Great Steppe, Terminus, The Tortoise and the Snail, and The Apple Day. This was followed by a number of short films from Iran, Jordan, Sweden, Korea, and Egypt. The festival will run until October 29, 2022. The gala screening of Frances O’Conner’s film Emily, to which she also went, was the big event of the day, though! Both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sitges – Catalan International Film Festival have already nominated it.

The majority of the films that will be screened at the Meta Film Fest have already been nominated for numerous awards at other international film festivals throughout the world, which makes the selection more alluring for UAE audiences.

The three-day celebrations will see the world premieres of a number of films, including Beloved, Borga, Chosen, District Terminal, El Arena, Emily, Golden Blood, Hard Shell Soft Shell, and African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey.

Among these, the Iranian movie District Terminal has been nominated three times at the Berlin International Film Festival, once at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema for Best Film, and once at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival.

Four nominations for the French feature film Hard Shell, Soft Shell (Fragile), including Best International Feature Fiction at the Beirut International Women Film Festival and Best Feature Film at Buzz IFF, have been announced.