Dubai International Film Fest – DIFFing Around

I volunteered for this “prestigious” festival, thanks to a few ads in the newspaper, some positive Ish-related motivation and due to the convincing nature of the DIFF website. For all the hype it created, DIFF was just okay, at least volunteering-wise. Fine Shah Rukh Khan showed up and got jumped by the usually fanatically over-eccentric gals, and so did Richard Gere – wow! Old ‘Hot’ Guy – YAY! Stop making such a big deal out of it. *8-|*

Initially when Romit and I went for the “Volunteer Recruitment Session”, I was awed by the good organization and the convincing positive speeches, making it sound as if volunteering at DIFF was everything you could dream of. I have to give it to Bob and the gang – we volunteers were treated too damn well. We got Dhs 45 vouchers to places like Dome and Schzzam for our “40-minute” lunch or dinner breaks. Obviously, “40 minutes” didn’t happen, but a couple of hours did. We got a lot of goodies, a lot of free screening vouchers, a funky-enough t-shirt, a lot of food and a lot of ‘make-us-feel-important’. Well done you guys, but hey, face the facts. We volunteers were actually doing shit. We were tearing tickets, clicking counters to count the number of film-watchers, ushering guests, ushering guests to the other ushers, flirting with the so called “hot girls”, eating great food, making once-and-only friends, and trying to feel important. We weren’t even half important. I feel they had enough paid ushers (the ones in the blue shirts) to handle the event. Also, there were just too many of us volunteers to the extent that unthinkable jobs were being created. This was so over-free-employment.

Okay fine, maybe I am being a little too negative. I must admit I had a decent time. I definitely enjoyed the food and got to know a couple of really nice and interesting people who I hope I will keep in touch with. I also got to know a group of DPS guys, who knew me (somehow) and found out why our school is so much better and more intellectual than the other Indian schools. These DPS guys were cool, but were too damn Bollywood for me. They were worried more about getting the most funked out phone than anything else, and what blew me away was that they were trying to justify themselves. Though one of them did genuinely entertain me, all of them were automatic-unintended entertainers, if you get what I mean. Fun-fill-ment indeed. I also got to spend time with a long lost friend who I only only meet when this other person is in town, whether this other person is there with us at that moment or not – weirdly enough.

I attended 2 of my 3 shifts. The first one was at the Mall Of The Emirates which was half decent – had a scrumptious lunch at Schzzam with 5 other people out of which I think I will never see 4 of them again. Note: At Schzzam there was this really awesome Magician who really and brilliantly, truly brilliantly entertained us while we awaited our food. Tejas, this Spanish Magician-dude would have made you go madder than you have ever gone before.

My second shift was at the Madinat Arena, i.e. The Red Carpet Zone, which was also half decent. Ishika was great company on a very ‘honest’ day (go figure) and so where the other 5 people who we will also, probably never meet again. Food was once again scrumptious, but painstakingly late at the Dome. We were eating like kings. Anyway 2 half-decent shifts make one decent experience, right?

Bob and the other Volunteer-In-charge people did a good job of handling the volunteers. The problem was that there weren’t enough genuine volunteers. Some wanted the girls, some wanted a learning/fun experience (like me :P) and only a minimum few actually wanted to make the most of this Film-Fest experience, beyond just the ticket-tearing and guest-ushering. And that was kinda sad to see.

When it comes to the Dubai International Film Festival itself, it was glorified with all the “big names” and the “big movies”. It was just about putting forth a grand image of the festival. I almost fell into the superficial “grandeur” of the event, but thanks to a local film-maker, I was bestowed with the right facts. A film festival is not about “big names” and “big films”, it’s about showcasing those off-beat films that don’t make it to the cinema theaters. It’s about giving an opportunity to the opportunity-less in a rapidly growing industry. It’s not about showing popular films that will hit the theaters soon. DIFF failed to uplift the true essence of a film-festival. Yes it did make an effort by hosting an Local Short Film competition, but there was too much concentration on the popularity aspect of films. But I guess the commercial approach is important for the sustenance of the festival. But so much of commercialism? Maybe not.

P.S. Any experience is an experience, good or bad, and it teaches you something or the other. So I apologize for the pessimism.