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 Festivaldirector and CEO.

"The festival is about building bridges and cultural dialogue. The Arab world faces many crises and political problems, and is in dire need of dialogue," said leading UAE festival programmer Masoud Amralla Al-Ali.

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!"

But they also faced problems from some Palestinian factions which accused them of presenting a negative image of "martydom fighters," and even resorted to kidnapping a crew member.

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

The two-million-dollar movie has been chosen as the foreign film entry for the Palestinians at the Academy Awards, and is already showing at cinemas in the United States and in Israel.

The second annual Dubai festival features 98 films from 46 countries, and will honor Freeman, Chopra and Adel Imam, two of whose films are being screened, including "The embassy is in the building" which tackles the sensitive issue of Egyptian-Israeli ties.

Besides Costa-Gavras, due to attend the Middle East premiere of his black comedy fantasy "Le Couperet" (The Ax), other celebrities include US actors Albert Brooks and Dylon McDermott.

Arab stars attending the festival include Egyptians Noor Sherif, Yusra, Hanan Turk and Mona Zaki, Tunisian star Hind Sabri as well as renowned French-Algerian rai singer Faudel.

British activist and musician Bob Geldof will also be present at a gala dinner to raise funds for the Nelson Mandela fund for aid to Africa.

The programme of the festival is divided into 13 themed programmes, including "Arabian Nights", "Arabian Shorts", "Cinema from the Subcontinent", "Insights from Asia", "In Honor of Africa" and "Cafe Europe".

The festival also includes "Operation cultural bridge" which includes Albert Brooks' new comedy "Looking for comedy in the Muslim world", Dubai's first world premiere of a Hollywood studio film.

The festival, meant to establish a crossroads where Hollywood meets Bollywood, will also feature movies from the Asian subcontinent, mainly from India which produces 900 features a year.

The films include the world premiere of director Dhruv Dhawan's documentary "From Dusk" about Sri Lankan survivors of the devastating 2004 tsunami and Chopra's "Veer Zaara", a film about love across the Indian-Pakistani divide.

The inaugural Dubai film festival last year screened 77 films from more than 25 countries.

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