Gerard Butler will attend film festival in Dubai to receive Variety’s International Star of the Year award.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118012053.html?categoryid=19&cs=1

Dubai Film Festival unveils lineup
LONDON -- Dubai fest organizers aren’t letting the financial crisis in the once booming emirate get in the way of announcing their lineup.
Opening night pic will be Rob Marshall’s musical “Nine,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman. It is still unclear if any of the film talent, which also includes Sophie Loren and Marion Cotillard, will be attending the gala screening.

Other galas include animated pic “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” while fest will close with a bang with the regional preem of James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

Fest’s Muhr prize for Arab cinema -- originally launched in 2006 with the ambition to become the premier showcase in the world for Arab filmmakers -- has managed to bring together a stellar lineup.

Among the competish contenders are Egyptian helmer Kamla Zekry’s “One-Zero,” Arab-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis’ “Amreeka” and French-Arab director Nassim Amaouche’s “Adieu Gary.”

Palestinian helmer Michel Khleifi’s “Zindeeq” receives its world preem at the fest as does Emirati filmmaker Ali Mostafa’s “City of Life.”

Organizers are rolling out the red carpet for Mostafa, who has previously won the Emirati Filmmaker prize at the fest and has long been seen as the Emirati helmer most likely to break out internationally. Mostafa’s film, which finished principal photography in mid-March, takes its name from the English translation of Dubai’s oldest nickname. The multi-lingual, multi-stranded character-driven drama follows the intersecting lives of a privileged young Emirati, an Indian taxi driver and Romanian flight attendant all living in the bustling emirate.

Elsewhere, Indian acting icon Amitabh Bachchan will receive a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to cinema as part of the fest’s honoree program. Previous recipients have included Morgan Freeman, Egyptian superstar Adel Imam as well as Indian uber-producer Yash Chopra.

Fest is also hosting a sidebar of French pics in its In Focus section. Among the pics selected are helmer Laurent Vinas-Raymond’s “I Forgot to Tell You,” starring Omar Sharif, and Francois Ozon’s “Le Refuge”

Gerard Butler will fly in to Dubai to receive Variety’s International Star of the Year award.

Fest runs from Dec. 9-16.

http://www.examiner.com/x-30536-Gerard-Butler-Examiner~y2009m12d2-Gerard-Butler-to-receive-Varietys-International-Star-of-the-Year-Award

Gerard Butler to receive Variety's International Star of the Year Award


It's been a banner year for Gerard Butler and the hits just keep on coming. The Dubai Film Festival unveiled their line-up for this year's event and revealed that Butler will receive Variety's International Star of the Year award at the 2009 event. The festival runs from December 9 - 16.

Past recipients of the award include British actors Jude Law and Hugh Grant.

The Scottish-born actor saw three films in cinemas this year with Sony's The Ugly Truth, Lionsgate's Gamer and Overture Films' Law Abiding Citizen, the first film from Butler's production company Evil Twins.

In 2010, his new releases include the Dreamworks animated film How To Train Your Dragon and The Bounty, co-starring Jennifer Aniston.

Butler is also scheduled to begin work on the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus in March 2010. The movie is Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut and is also predicted to star Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt. Fiennes will portray the title character and Butler will star opposite as Tullus Aufidius.

He was also just recently named the first ambassador for the Glasgow Film Office.

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) is the leading film festival in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Since its inception in 2004, the festival has served as an influential platform for Arab filmmakers and talent at an international level, by spearheading the cinema movement in the region.

It's good to see some good press lately.

Thanks for posting these!!

i'm with you, DK! about time we saw something positive!! go gerr!!

This article in Gulf News makes it seem that Gerry's appearance isn't confirmed yet.

http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/celebrity/butler-likely-to-grace-dubai-film-festival-1.543716

Butler likely to grace Dubai Film Festival
This would be Scottish heartthrob's second visit

By Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Staff Reporter

Dubai: Hollywood heartthrob Gerard Butler is notorious for leaving broken hearts behind, but in this case he is only going to set hearts racing. Rumour has it that the P.S. I Love You star will hit the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) on December 15 to participate in a 45-minute conversation.

If all goes according to plan, the 40-year-old Scottish actor will speak about his career, his serial-dater image and his notable works. This will be Butler's second visit to the region. Last year in November, Butler turned on his charm at the Atlantis opening bash.

DIFF organisers declined to confirm but said that the star is being considered for an appearance.

Nay,

We need a Gerry Juice emoticon! Wonder what that would look like....oh, the possibilities....

Gerry is scheduled for a 45 min. conversation at the First Group Theater on Dec.15th.

http://www.dubaifilmfest.com/schedule_2009.php?day=15

Pics are here. Gerry is doing funky things with his hands and eyes again. Not sure why he didn't wear a suit to the interview. He was in one in other pics.

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&p=gerard%20butler&assetType=image#

http://hipcelebrity.blogspot.com/2009/12/gerard-butler-attends-photocall-during.html

More pics.

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&assetType=image&ep=3&p=gerard%20butler

Sorry, I posted these to the wrong thread...just learning here, my bad.....

PLR

That's fine! Thanks for the links! I have a lot of work to do wonight uploading all of these, don't I?

Quick snippet of Gerry on the red carpet before the screening of "Avatar".