DUBAI, Dec 11: Dubai’s international film festival opened on Sunday with a constellation of Hollywood, Bollywood and Arab stars attending the Middle East premiere of a Palestinian movie about suicide bombers. American stars Morgan Freeman and Laurence Fishburne, Greek-French cult director Costa-Gavras, legendary Indian producer Yash Chopra and Egyptian superstar actor Adel Imam walked up the red carpet of the event meant to bridge East-West differences.

The December 11-17 festival “retains its original goals of bridging cultures through film and showcasing the best of Arab cinema for the rest of the world,” said Neil Stephenson, Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) director and CEO.

“The festival is about building bridges and cultural dialogue.

The star-studded Gala night screened “Paradise Now,” a movie by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad which won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005.

The film shows the gripping events of what may be the last 24 hours in the lives of two young men chosen to carry out an anti-Israeli suicide bombing, or “martyrdom operation” as termed by Palestinian militants.

“The film does not take a stand for or against the act, although there is clearly a difference between terrorists killing people and the Palestinians who are fighting for a just cause,” said Abu-Assad.

“The film stays away from branding people terrorists or martydom fighters, and shows the human side of these men,” he said.

“When we lived in Nablus for three months to shoot the film I understood that anyone living under such an occupation, curfews, poverty, humiliation and despair can become like that,” said lead actor Kais Nashef, himself an Israeli Arab.

Shooting the film was an achievement in itself.

Abu-Assad recalled the curfews, checkpoints and the missile attacks by the Israeli army which forced the crew to “sign a paper saying that if we are killed by the Israeli soldiers it will be our own responsibility!”

Abu-Assad praised festival organisers for their courage in selecting his film for the Gala night.—AFP