Diff, first film fest to achieve ISO certification

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has been certified to ISO 9001: 2008 standards, as confirmed by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), it announced on Sunday.The certification, an advance over the festival’s previous three-year ISO 9001: 2000 certification, makes DIFF the only known festival in the world to seek and achieve the quality management standard. The recertification, to the highest existing International Organisation for Standardizations (ISO) guidelines, will ensure all DIFF stakeholders –– including filmgoers, filmmakers, suppliers, sponsors, staff and media –– experience consistently high customer satisfaction levels in their interactions with the festival, the Diff statement noted.Achieving the standard follows the completion of a stringent onsite audit and verification process.ISO certification, a mainstay of the world’s leading companies, has been linked to superior financial performance, better internal and external communications, inventory reductions and other business processes improvements, together with enhanced trade and business relationships with other high-performing companies and conglomerates. Diff Chairman Abdulhamid Juma said: “ISO certification is rarely if ever sought out by film festivals. We have historically taken this extra step voluntarily to ensure all our processes adhere to global best practices, and are geared towards delivering the best possible results for us and all our partners and visitors.”“The resources, time and energy we invest in the annual ISO audits, now and continuously over the next three years, will ensure we operate as effectively and efficiently as possible.”   From / Gulf Today