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E. Nina Rothe

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The Diaries, because sometimes life needs more. 

DIFF 2017

Wait, did you really think the Dubai International Film Festival was coming back?

E. Nina Rothe December 9, 2019

Because if you did, I’ve got some swampland in Florida I’d love to sell you. Along with a few magic beans that grow into diamonds.

Honestly, from the moment I stepped off that last red carpet at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, in 2017, I knew the festival was done. In fact, the headline of my wrap-up piece for the 14th edition of DIFF was “Following the Dubai International Film Festival, Where Does Arabwood Go Now?” Yes and that was months before the official decision to skip the festival in 2018 and reformat its approach. There was a dark cloud in the crisp desert sky and it loomed above the festival throughout. My headline was just what my heart told me to write, regardless of my personal feelings towards that weird last edition.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags DIFF, Dubai International Film Festival, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, Arab cinema
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFFA view of Madinat Jumeirah on the opening night of the 14th Dubai International Film Festival

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

A view of Madinat Jumeirah on the opening night of the 14th Dubai International Film Festival

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Couldn’t Have Done It Without You, Madinat Jumeirah!

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

Anyone who has ever had to travel for work knows, deeply and personally, how important a hotel room can be. 

For me, while I spent eight nights and nine days at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival, the Mina A’Salam hotel, in Madinat Jumeirah provided a home away from home, the perfect place to get away from it all and write, not to mention my very own soft place to fall. All rolled up into the perfectly glamorous package of a luxury 5-star plus hotel.

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In Cinema, Fashion, Festival, The Diaries Tags Dubai International Film Festival, Dubai, DIFF17, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Hotels, Mina A'Salam, Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Al Qasr, Al Naseem, Il Borro, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tuscan food, cinema, Arab cinema, Middle East, UAE, Florence, Talise Spa, Bushra, Mattar Bin Lahej, turtle sanctuary, Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project, Souchy'Z, Mirzam, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
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PHOTO BY VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF“In Conversation with Morgan Spurlock” at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival

PHOTO BY VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

“In Conversation with Morgan Spurlock” at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Swarovski, Morgan Spurlock, ‘The Man Behind the Microphone’ and Cinemas in Saudi by 2018

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

What is heritage and how important is our connection to the past in shaping who we will be in the future? And if our ideals seem to clash with what our leaders are encouraging, or we simply can see beyond the chaos — are we right? Or does that make us just different... Those are all questions that have come up in the last 48 hours for me, at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries, Fashion Tags Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, DIFF17, Swarovski, Morgan Spurlock, The Man Behind the Microphone, heritage, Madinat Jumeirah, Grace Jones, Philip Treacy, Marilyn, Michael Jackson, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey Hepburn, Alexandra Byrne, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Rats, One Direction: This is Us, USA, Big Chicken, Saudi Arabia, cinemas in Saudi, Arab cinema, UAE, VOX, AMC, Claire Belhassine, Hédi Jouini
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PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

PHOTO BY NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF

The Dubai Film Festival Diaries: Rob Reiner’s ‘Shock & Awe’, Claes Bang, Q’orianka Kilcher and Working Through the Madness

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2018

When the whole Hollywood sexual predator news broke back in October, I received a message from a colleague I’m connected with on Facebook. He pointed to the fact that as a woman, in light of the recent revelations, I would now find it much “impossible” to get one-on-ones with male stars and directors. The statement hit me and I felt an immediate pang of anxiety. I mean, my job as a woman, a blogger, someone who holds on to her personal opinions and is proud of going against the current if need be is already pretty difficult as it is. To add to that burden — because lets face it, even when diversity and/or equality are celebrated and demanded in the arts, it never really manages to trickle down to the media side of things — would only make my work impossible.

But DIFF has proven my colleague wrong, of course. I’ve never had more access, and more professional intimacy than what I’ve experienced here so far. I mean, the kind of face to face talks that mean so much to a writer, because in the end, you know they will help the pieces write themselves. The kind of great human connections that we all strive to create, across cultures, with different personalities and among our fellow humans.

What’s that saying DIFF? “Film Will Find You”? Yes, it always does, and helps me to discover the way back.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags DIFF17, Dubai, Dubai International Film Festival, Jumeirah, Madinat Jumeirah, Mina A'Salam, Claes Bang, Ruben Östlund, Best Foreign Language Oscar, The Square, Sweden, Shock and Awe, Rob Reiner, Woody Harrelson, Jonathan Landay, Iraq, Warren Strobel, Michael Marsden, fake news, NY Times, Washington Post, Q’Orianka Kilcher, Find Will Find You
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