World premiere of Arab films UM Ghayeb and The Silence of the Shepherd

Two Arab films are celebrating their World Premieres at Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014 on Tuesday. In the Documentary Competition of the festival, SANAD-funded Egyptian documentary film UM GHAYEB (MOTHER OF THE UNBORN), directed by Nadine Salib, convincingly captures the stigmatisation of female infertility in Egypt.
The second film to have its World Premiere is the Iraqi film THE SILENCE OF THE SHEPHERD, featuring in the New Horizons category of the festival. Director Raad Mushatat will grace the premiere with his all-Iraqi cast and crew. The film, set against a rural backdrop, deals with silence in the village community when a thirteen-year old girl suddenly disappears.
The ADFF will present two award-winning, much acclaimed movies for the first time in the region. BLACK COAL, THIN ICE, which won the Golden Bear award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, is a dark Chinese detective thriller written and directed by Diao Yinan. BLACK COAL, THIN ICE is competing in the festival's Narrative Competition.
Winner of the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes festival WINTER SLEEP, directed by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, will be screened. Set against the snowy panoramas of Anatolia, the film is an intimate character study of the protagonist that touches epic dimensions. The film delineates the deep chasms between the rich and poor as well as of the powerful and powerless in Turkey. WINTER SLEEP will be presented as part of the ADFF Showcase.
Watch the intense acting by the father-adolescent son duo in FEVERS on screen. Competing in the ADFF Narrative Competition, directed by Moroccan filmmaker Hicham Ayouch, portrays situations that arise in the life of 13-year old Benjamin in France, who is suddenly thrust into the company of his North African immigrant father he never knew he had, when his mother goes to jail.
Winner of the Audience Awards at Sundance and at Berlinale this year, DIFRET will have its red carpet premiere at Emirates Palace tonight at 18:30. The Ethiopian drama, produced by Angelina Jolie, will have its director Zeresenay Mehari and producer Mehret Mondefro attending the red carpet. The film that spotlights the gender-based violence in Ethiopia and the ancient practice of abduction into marriage is included in ADFF's New Horizons Competition.