Dubai Film Market backs 12 projects

"The Rif Lover""Hercule vs. Hermes"LONDON -- The Dubai Film Festival has announced a list of 12 Arab film projects, which will receive up to $100,000 apiece in post-production funding from the Dubai Film Market. Enjaaz, the DFM's post-production fund, has selected a dozen titles from Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. It received 110 applicants from 17 different countries. The shortlist of fiction features includes Danielle Arbid's "Beirut Hotel" from the Lebanon; Narjiss Nejjar's "The Rif Lover" from Morocco; Yahya AlAbdallah's "The Last Friday" from Jordan; and Laith Al-Juneidi's "The Invisible Policeman" from Palestine. Docs include Christina Foerch Saab's "Che Guevara Died in Lebanon," Eliane Raheb's "Confession and Struggle," Nadim Mishlawi's "Sector Zero," Rami Nihawi's "Mum" and Simon El-Habre's "Gate No. 5," all from the Lebanon; Saad Hendawy's "Doaa Aziza" from Egypt; Mohamed Ulad's "Hercule vs Hermes" from Morocco; and Aseel Mansour's "Uncle Nashaat" from Jordan and Palestine. The Enjaaz program was launched in 2009, and has since supported 22 films to take the final step from production to the screen. They include Susan Youssef's "Darling, There's Something Wrong With Your Head," which had its world premiere this month at Venice and its North American premiere at Toronto. This year's Dubi Film Festival runs Dec. 7 to 14. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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