The 12th Edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) brought together the best films from around the globe for their ‘Cinema Of The World’ segment. It showcased 134 films from 60 countries, including 55 world and international premieres, 46 MENA premieres, 11 Middle East premieres and 17 GCC premieres, the 12th edition cemented its status as one of Conde Nast World Traveller’s Top 10 Film Festivals with overwhelmingly positive feedback from all attendees.

I was lucky enough to battle a tough schedule and attend to watch these films from 9th – 16th December, 2015. Here’s my list of all the films that are an absolute treat for everyone curious about the world and cultures out there, travellers, adventurers and wanderers alike:

1. SHERPA: A striking and enthralling counterbalance to recent mountaineering drama epic EVEREST, Australian director Jennifer Peedom’s stunning documentary focuses on Nepal’s Sherpas, the hard workers who transport all of the equipment up and down the mountains for Western climbers. Peedom, an experienced high-altitude filmmaker, climbs Mount Everest to train her camera on these overlooked workers, with particular emphasis on Phurba Tashi Sherpa’s 22nd ascent to the summit in 2014. Debate about the dangers involved take a dark turn when 16 Sherpas die at Khumbi Icefall and the film looks at the aftermath and implications of the incident. A beautifully powerful film, SHERPA is moving and visually enthralling in equal measure

2. EL ABRAZO DE LA SERPIENTE (EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT)
A beautifully strange journey into darkness, Ciro Guerra’s embrace of the serpent is a rewardingly oblique tale…an epic black-and-white journey that veers between two time periods and embraces the strange and the wonderful. It juxtaposes two men – Theo (Jan Bijvoet) and Evan (Brionne Davis) – and their journeys across the Amazon, 40 years apart. The film opens in a standard fashion, but this is something of a feint, with the story heading off into weird and dark directions as the men venture deeper into the Amazon and into dreamlike territory. It’s a hypnotic, bold and mesmerisingly unique film.

3. IXCANUL (VOLCANO)

A striking debut film from writer/director Jayro Bustamente, who makes great use of his actors, all non-professionals he found through theatre workshops and community meetings. He uses Guatemala’s active Pacaya volcano as the backdrop and the metaphor for the counterbalance between modern attitudes and ancient traditions. This is a beautifully shot story centering on the pre-marital pregnancy of young peasant girl Maria (Mercedes Coroy). The elegant widescreen cinematography from Luis Armando Arteaga helps give the film a real sense of majesty, as Maria and her mother juggle a world caught between spirits and the lure of the United States, a place dubbed by one character as simply “on the other side of the volcano”.

4. ITHACA