Festival No UN Meeting, says MEIFF Chief.

Summary: ABU DHABI u A film festival should not be a United Nations meeting. At least, that is what Peter Scarlet, executive director of Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) had to say about the diversity of the countries represented in the festival this time.

"I regret the lack of Algerian and Moroccan movies," he said in reply to criticism about no films being screened from these countries.

Indeed, MEIFF is only showing two productions from North Africa, both Tunisian -- Buried Secrets by Raja Amari, a rather unusual thriller, in which three tradition-bound women haunt an isolated estate; and Being Here , a documentary by Mohamed Zran, in which a teacher, an artist and a marriage-fixer meet in a hardware shop to talk love, life and politics.

Although not as internationally famous as Iran or, more recently, Turkey, Maghreb cinema is one of the strongest throughout Arab and Middle C Eastern world.

"I apologise, but we did not have enough time to prepare this year. I arrived here in May, so there were only five months, when an international festival takes one year to prepare. But it will be better next year. We will start preparations from October 19 for the 2010 MEIFF," promised Scarlet.

Another criticism for the ongoing film festival this year is regarding the jury, formed of movie directors, producers and actors, but no film critics.

Despite the fact that Scarlet does not seem to have much regard for film critics, he did say that "all members of the film community will be represented in the jury in the future." Aa

As for the fact that some jurors are too "young" for the job, the festival executive director was, again, adamant.

"They get great learning experience from the rest of the jury panel, so I stand by my decision," said Scarlet. Among of the most trusted names in the panel is Abbas Kirostami, one of the best-regarded filmmakers worldwide, who is MEIFF's narrative jury president. Producer Michael Fitzgerald, who worked with the likes of Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson and John Malkovich, is also a jury member for narrative features.

Among the documentary judges this year are Gonzalo Arijon and Rashid Masharawi. Film-maker Arijon won the 2008 MEIFF Black Pearl Award and several other international ones for Stranded , which was about the 1972 Uruguayan plane crash and its survivors who were forced into cannibalism.

Rashid Masharawi has won various international awards, including the 2008 MEIFF best screenplay for C Laila's Birthday .

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