News have come out of Emily Blunt's Dubai venture: the Dubai Film Festival (DFF) has announced that she'll be one of the jurors of the IWC Filmmaker Award, which is the festival's annual award, given to a Middle East filmmaker in collaboration with Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen. Emily Blunt's Dubai visit will be occurring in the early days of December 2014, as the film festival will be kicking off on December 10.
Emily Blunt's Dubai visit seems that will be the first for the actress - undoubtedly, it will mark the very first time she plays a juror in the famed Middle East festival. This is only the third year ever where the festival has hosted the award, and over the last two years it has featured Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett as its main juror. Emily Blunt's Dubai visit will be marked as the first time any other Western actress shows up for the big occasion in Middle Eastern cinema.
The IWC Filmmaker Award is given out annually to a filmmaker from the Middle East region. The film festival's way of action is that screenplays are sent to jurors in a competition and whoever wins, takes the money (which is a prize of $100,000 or Dh 367,303) to help filmmakers bring their scripts to the screen. The initiative of the festival was born out of a collaboration between the Dubai Film Festival and IWC Schaffhausen.
The Golden Globe-nominated actress released a press release regarding Emily Blunt's Dubai visit: "I'm truly excited about visiting Dubai, and it's a great honour for me to be a part of the IWC Filmmaker Award jury and support a valuable initiative that promotes the art of film in the Gulf. It will be fascinating to see the scripts and discover forthcoming films that will undoubtedly touch the hearts and minds of audiences in the region and internationally."
The Dubai International Film Festival was launched in 2004, and is the oldest film festival in the Gulf region. Many international celebrities, like actors Simon Pegg and George Clooney as well as director Terry Gilliam and many others, have attended the event.
