رقابت 172 فيلم برسر گرانترين جوايزجهان درجشنواره سينمايى ابوظبى

چهارمين جشنواره سينمايى ابوظبى امروز پنج شنبه 14/10/2010 آغاز به كار كرد. اين جشنواره قرار است طى 10 روز فعاليت خود 172 فيلم را به نمايش بگذارد. رقابت اين فيلمها بر سر گرانترين جوايز در سطح جهان صورت مى گيرد.

فيلمهايى كه در جشنواره ابوظبى به نمايش در مى آيند، حاصل كار سينماگران 43 كشور جهان مى باشد. رقابت در اين جشنواره در 5 زمينه صورت مى گيرد و بالاترين جايزه اين جشنواره "مرواريد سياه" است.

عيسى سيف المزروعى مدير برنامه هاى اين جشنواره روز گذشته به خبرنگاران گفت: اين دوره با فيلم امريكايى "سكرتاريا" آغاز مى شود كه نقش اول آن را "جان مالكويچ"، بازى مى كند و كارگردانش راندال والاس مى باشد.

وى افزود كه در مراسم افتتاحيه، پيش از نمايش اين فيلم امريكايى، يك فيلم كوتاه به كارگردانى جعفر پناهى كارگردان مشهور ايرانى به نمايش در خواهد آمد. نمايش اين فيلم ايرانى بخشى از يك طرح بين المللى در دفاع از منشور جهانى حقوق بشر به حساب مى آيد. با اين حال خود پناهى كه در بهار گذشته در زندان به سر مى برد همچنان ممنوع السفر است و نمى تواند در اين مراسم و جشنواره شركت كند.

المزروعى توضيح داد كه نمايش فيلم كوتاه جعفر پناهى اقدامى در جهت حمايت از حق آزادى انديشه و تأكيد بر اهميت تبادل آزاد آراء مى باشد.

در جشنواره فيلم ابوظبى 15 فيلم داستانى بلند بر سر جوايز "مرواريد سياه" به رقابت خواهند پرداخت. در اين رقابت 100 هزار دلار به برترين فيلم داستانى در سطح جهان، 100 هزار دلار به برترين فيلم داستانى در جهان عرب، 25 هزار دلار به برترين بازيگر مرد و 25 هزار دلار به برترين بازيگر زن، داده خواهد شد.

هيئت داورى در اين مسابقه به رياست كارگردان آرژانتينى، "لويس بونزو"، تشكيل شده است و اعضاى ديگر آن عبارتند از: "سلاف فواخرجى" هنرپيشه زن سورى، "فوزى بن سعيدى" كارگردان مغربى، "صديق برمك" كارگردان افغانى و "كريم اينوز" كارگردان برزيلى.

اين جشنواره خليجى علاوه بر رقابت فيلمهاى داستانى بلند، شاهد 4 رقابت ديگر خواهد بود. اين رقابتها شامل فيلمهاى مستند بلند، فيلمهاى كوتاه، رقابت "امارات"، و رقابت "افقهاى جديد" مى باشد.

رقابت "افقهاى جديد"، براى نخستين بار است كه در جشنواره ابوظبى مطرح و اجرا مى شود. هدف از اين رقابت تشويق كارگردانانى است كه اولين يا دومين تجربه سينمايى خود را به نمايش مى گذارند. اين جشنواره مسابقه ديگرى نيز دارد كه نامش را جايزه تماشاگران گذاشته اند. برنده اين مسابقه كارگردانى است كه از سوى تماشاگران جشنواره، بيشترين راى را از آن خود كند.

در جشنواره ابوظبى 71 فيلم داستانى بلند، 55 فيلم كوتاه و 46 فيلم اماراتى و خليجى به نمايش در خواهند آمد. فيلمهايى كه در اين جشنواره نمايش داده مى شوند، در 43 كشور جهان تهيه شده اند. از اين ميان 33 فيلم را زنان كارگردانى كرده اند.

فيلمهاى مستند بلند جوايزى به ارزش 100 هزار دلار دارند و كميته داورى اين بخش را "اسامه محمد" كارگردان سورى بر عهده دارد.

رقابت "افقهاى جديد" كه شاهد نمايش 17 فيلم از 14 كشور است، توسط كميته اى داورى خواهند شد كه رياست آن را ايليا سليمان، به عهده دارد.

خانم "شيرين نشاط" كارگردان ايرانى رياست كميته داورى در بخش رقابت فيلمهاى كوتاه را برعهده دارد و رقابت "امارات" كه شاهد حضور 47 فيلم كوتاه تهيه شده در كشورهاى امارات، قطر، سعودى و عمان است، توسط كميته اى داورى خواهند شد كه رياستش را "نورى بوزيد" كارگردان تونسى بر عهده دارد.

Nevertheless, the Israelis and Palestinians are meeting again in an attempt to negotiate a settlement. This latest peace fest – the first in 20 months – is the ninth attempt at peace since 1979, when negotiators identified the final status issues.

Although this round of negotiations was launched with considerable fanfare and political spin, the talks are teetering on the verge of collapse following Israel’s decision not to extend the moratorium on settlement construction. Whatever the outcome of these current negotiations, significant demographic changes now under way create political realities that will likely overtake any proposed peace plan if it is long in coming.

To be sure, resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict involves overcoming obdurate obstacles and successfully aligning many interlocking and intricate pieces. But the fundamental ingredients for a peace deal are relatively straightforward.

First is the important matter of borders for the two states. Not surprisingly, each side has its respective positions – varying from extreme rejectionism to equitable accommodation – on how best to slice up historic British Palestine. Perhaps the most promising outcome is that Israel returns to its June 1967 borders – give or take a few negotiated settlements in the West Bank and some compensatory territorial swaps. Also, in order to unite the two components of a Palestinian state, a land corridor connecting the West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be worked out.

The second issue concerns the right of return for the Palestinians refugees of the 1948 war that established the Israeli state and their millions of descendants. Given the current circumstances, the most promising compromise is for the Palestinians to (a) concede that there would be no right of return except for a small proportion of refugees for humanitarian purposes, such as family reunification, and (b) accept compensation for their displacement and losses.

Among the most sensitive issues to negotiate concerns the status of Jerusalem. Here again the staked out positions of each side differ greatly. The Palestinians insist on making East Jerusalem the capital of their new country; the Israelis are adamant on a unified Jerusalem under their control.

The fourth major ingredient for achieving a peace accord relates to the vital matter of security. The United States or NATO would have to give both Israelis and Palestinians security guarantees. In addition to monitoring implementation of the peace agreement, this would likely include stationing troops along the common borders.

Despite the resumption of peace talks, the clarity of the major issues to be addressed and the professed good intentions of the negotiators and their supporters to achieve a just and permanent settlement, the outcome of the restarted peace talks remains uncertain.

Each side has powerful factions resisting a peace accord in part because they are convinced that the passage of time is on their side.

However, time may not be on either side. Differential rates of population growth already redefine the relative demographic standing of Arab-Israelis, Jewish-Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian population is expected to grow more rapidly than the Israeli population due primarily to higher birth rates. Consequently, over the coming decades the difference in the numbers of Israelis and Palestinians will shrink, with long-range projections pointing to convergence toward numeric equivalence, a critical demographic inflection point.

Also, while demographic projections indicate that the Jewish-Israelis will continue to be the large majority in Israel for the foreseeable future, it will be increasingly challenging for them to increase or maintain their current dominant majority of approximately 75 percent. The primary underlying reason is the fact that the fertility rates of Arab-Israelis are about one child higher than those of Jewish-Israelis.

With regard to immigration, past flows of Jewish immigration to Israel were substantial, contributing significantly to the growth of the Jewish-Israeli population. However, despite high levels of immigration in the past, in particular from the republics of the former Soviet Union, the proportion Jewish among the Israeli population has declined from a high of 89 percent in 1958 to 75 percent today, primarily the result of higher rates of growth among non-Jewish Israelis.

Moreover, it is important to note that after Israel, which accounts for approximately 42 percent of world’s Jews, the largest numbers of Jews reside in the United States – nearly 40 percent – followed by France, Canada and the United Kingdom, all less than 4 percent. Relatively few from the Jewish populations in these developed countries are likely to exchange comfortable lifestyles and economic opportunities for a more precarious residence in this troubled and unstable region.

Also, Israel is not immune to emigration of its own Jewish citizens. With attractive educational, employment and other opportunities abroad and difficulties at home, increasing numbers of Israelis have chosen to travel and live in other countries. Estimates of the number of Israelis residing abroad range from about 800,000 to 1 million – 11 to 14 percent – with about 60 percent settled in the United States and a quarter in Europe.


Given the tragic past, the knotty state of current affairs and many formidable obstacles to overcome, it’s undeniably difficult to envision an outcome to the current peace talks other than the status quo. However, continuation of the status quo undermines the credibility and diminishes chances for achieving a lasting and just peace agreement.


Indeed, the persistence of the status quo may soon give the Palestinians no choice but to forgo a state of their own and push for the right to be Israeli citizens with equal rights, including voting. For Israel, continuation of the status quo seriously challenges its democracy and predominately Jewish character. In short, Israelis and Palestinians need to make some difficult choices. And if they don’t do so soon, the future will be made for them and it’s unlikely to be peace.


Joseph Chamie, former director of the United Nations Population Division, is research director at the Center for Migration Studies. This commentary is reprinted with permission from YaleGlobal Online. It can be accessed online at: (www.yaleglobal.yale.edu). Copyright © 2010, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University.