Entertaining the entertainer

Sleepless nights and some unique challenges confronted the local events industry during the Dubai International Film Festival.

With more than 1500 guests including some of Hollywood, Bollywood and Arab cinema's finest in town for the launch of the 2008 Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), organisers kicked the week-long event off in style with a night of fire breathing and acrobatics, on top of the usual opening night celebrity appearances and red carpet arrivals.

The local events industry was put to the ultimate test during the festival, setting up large productions at three different locations, two of which were staged on the opening night alone.

The conclusion of the festival was marked by a major event at Bab Al Shams Desert Resort, located on the outskirts of Dubai.

While, the venue provided an impressive backdrop for the event, it also presented the production crew with a unique set of challenges.

For the opening night events, an abundance of challenges confronted the production team, mainly relating to the intricately directed, creative performances.

Time constraints and spatial restrictions also proved significant challenges.

Several local technical experts and equipment providers came together to collaborate on the Madinat Arena opening gala and the subsequent Mina A' Salam beach party event.

Gearhouse Staging Connections, Redeye Events Services, Protec and Delta Dubai were among the major providers of sound, lighting and rigging for entertainment during the opening night festivities.

Meanwhile, other local players, including Artes Middle East, provided sound, lighting and projection equipment for the various film screening locations established throughout the city for the week-long festival.

Creative event production company AYA, which coordinated the entertainment segments in conjunction with fellow Montreal-based event management firm Circo de Bakuza, has been attempting to solidify its position in the Middle East recently, and its involvement in this year's DIFF event went along way to achieving this.

AYA management admits that the DIFF project was the biggest undertaking in which the company has participated to date in the Middle East.

"The setup we had at the beach party was just phenomenal," explains Micha Grundman, managing director of AYA. "We combined technology and human performance in a very unique way."

"We wanted to ensure the installation remained discreet, so as not to detract from the performance. As a result, we built a circular platform and created an immersive environment with custom-fabricated projection screens which represented sails," says Grundman.

"Each screen had three, seven metre high poles with projectors located at the top of each one, which enabled the team to project a series of scans resulting in an amazing effects-laden presentation."

For all three of the major productions staged during the festival, Christie projectors were employed to provide details and layers on the mostly custom-fabricated screens. Eight 25,000 lumen projectors were used during the closing event, complemented by two 16,000 lumen Christie Roadsters.

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