Ron Perlman, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Cuba Gooding Jr. Sign On as First Jurors for Dubai's Golden Dunes Festival

Ron Perlman, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Cuba Gooding Jr. have signed on as the first wave of jurors for the second edition of Dubai's Golden Dunes Festival, Deadline reported on 28 August 2026.

The festival returns for a longer run this year, expanding from a single-night awards ceremony to a three-day event running 28–30 November. Screenings, panels and workshops will fill the programme, and the Golden Dunes Awards are set for 29 November at the Belcanto at Dubai Opera rooftop venue in downtown Dubai. Deadline

Golden Dunes was founded by Ali Zamani and Zeus Zamani, the L.A.-based filmmaking duo behind the production company AZ Filmz. The inaugural edition was spearheaded in partnership with Ben Coen, Scott Carlson and Don Worley, and drew more than 500 global film submissions, according to AZ Filmz's official Instagram account. That first year featured in-person appearances by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Eric Roberts. Deadline

Ali Zamani framed the second edition as a shift in ambition. The goal, he said, is to open the event up — bringing filmmakers to Dubai for three days rather than staging a single awards night. Perlman and Aghdashloo are expected to take particularly active roles, joining panels and workshops alongside fellow jurors and invited industry guests. Gooding Jr., who participated in the first edition, returns as a juror this year.

All three bring familiar faces to the festival's jury roster. Perlman's credits span Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy, Nightmare Alley and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Aghdashloo earned an Academy Award nomination for House of Sand and Fog and won an Emmy for House of Saddam, with later roles in The Expanse and The Flight Attendant. Gooding Jr. broke through in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood and won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Jerry Maguire; his body of work also includes A Few Good Men, Men of Honor and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Deadline

For a festival still in its second year, landing three names of that profile signals a clear bet on visibility. Whether that translates into submission volume or industry attendance is a question the November dates will answer. The festival's official website, goldendunesfilmfestival.com, currently lists rules, a winners page for 2025, and an open film-submissions portal. Golden Dunes Film Festival