Day Five of the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) explores a variety of feature films based on people of mixed cultures finding common ground in their endless search for happiness and fulfilment of their dreams. Day Five also witnesses the screening of the first documentary in MEIFF’s Environmental programme. Henna, the sole Emirati film to be nominated for MEIFF’s ‘International Competition for Feature Films’, was written and directed by Abu Dhabi’s Saleh Karama. It tackles the story of Henna, whose mother’s epilepsy has led to a divorce. When her cousin Tarsh, a desert Bedouin, comes to visit the family, Henna looks to him as a new father figure. Saleh Karama has produced some of the most original theatre plays from the Arab world over the last 15 years and has published several novels. He has written several feature film scripts, including the original screenplay for Soul Carriage (2007), winner of the ‘Best New Director Award’ at the 2007 San Sebastian Film Festival. The screening on Tuesday at Emirates Palace will be followed by a panel discussion with director Saleh Karama and the cast of Henna. Inspired to create his new film Gulabi Talkies from his personal experience as a boy growing up in rural India, renowned director Girish Kasaravalli goes deep into the life of a midwife, who is passionate about watching films. When her husband runs off with his second wife she starts spending her days in the cinema, totally immersed in the better world of her imagination. Gulabi Talkies was awarded ‘Best Indian Film’ at the 10th Osian Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema earlier this year and MEIFF’s screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Girish Kasaravalli and lead actress Umashri. The third film to be highlighted discusses the potential for death and pain to sometimes be the path to redemption and life with hope. Cherry Blossom, by director Doris Dorrie, follows both the spiritual and physical journey of a grieving widower who nearing retirement suddenly loses his wife. He embarks on a pilgrimage to Mount Fuji to yield the peace that he longs for and to explore his wife’s long lost dreams. Cherry Blossom was a resounding success at a number of premier festivals earlier this year where it won numerous awards including the ‘Golden Berlin Bear’ at the Berlin International Film Festival. MEIFF Day Five also sees the first documentary of MEIFF’s Environmental programme to be shown with White Falcon, White Wolf by Fergus Beeley. This moving drama won ‘Best Cinematography’ and ‘Best Sound Design’ at this year’s 31st International Wildlife Film Festival in Montana. The film tells the story of two arctic predators - a pair of white gyr falcons and a pack of arctic wolves, whose home is a valley on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high Arctic. These predators, both brilliantly white, struggle daily to raise families in the short arctic summer where for just a few months each year the snow melts and the landscape turns from white to green. Both of these predators have rarely been filmed, and this film includes behaviour that has never been seen before by scientists. The Environmental programme is new to MEIFF this year and showcases films that focus on themes about the environment and humanity’s place in the world. The inclusion of this section has been spurred on by Abu Dhabi’s dedication to preserving the environment and its wildlife.

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