Dubai film fest`s Canadian founder sidelined

Toronto: The legal battle over the control of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) is getting uglier, with the sidelined Canadian founder of the mega-show vowing to "right this wrong".Festival founder Neil Stephenson, who says he conceptualised the festival after 9/11 to build a "cultural bridge" between the West and the Islamic world, vowed to continue his three-year struggle to be recognised as the legitimate founder and creator of the festival.

His statement Thursday came after settlement talks broke down, with Stephenson`s request to be recognised as a festival co-founder rejected by DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma. Stephenson said he would continue his legal fight against Juma and festival managing director Shivani Pandya. In his lawsuit, the Canadian has charged Juma and Pandya with engaging in "despicable behaviour". He says the two defendants conspired to ruin his reputation by branding him a "racist" and an "Arab-hater", despite the fact that he had lived in the Arab world for 10 years and launched the DIFF in 2003. Lawyers for the two sides have been locked in negotiations for the past three months. Stephenson says he has proposed an equitable resolution so that he and Juma become co-founders despite the fact that Juma had had little involvement with the first festival in 2004. In his statement, the Canadian said: "It is sad that Juma could not have accepted our fair-minded settlement proposal. "I have been engaged in a three-year struggle for justice and fairness, and I have fought cleanly and honourably to obtain my rightful credit for having conceived and created DIFF, a festival I am very proud of." He said he will fight for another three years "if necessary to right this wrong". Stephenson said he will also petition authorities in the United Arab Emirates, Britain and Canada and lobby with film industry leaders for support and launch a website while waging the legal battle. IANS