By Austin Dale (Updated 6 hours, 31 minutes ago)
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival has announced the winners of its short film competitions.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF), now in its fourth year, has announced the winners of its Emirates Film Competition (EFC) and its International Short Film Competition.
In the EFC, which featured 44 short films from the United Arab Emirates, director Fatma Abdulla won the narrative competition with “Soul” and Mansour Al Dhaheri’s “A Falcon Will Not Breed a Dove” won for documentary. Student prizes went to Mansour Al Badran for “Maher’s Camera” and Salma Serry for “6 on 18.”
The International Short Film Competition, which featured 31 films from 23 countries, awarded its prize for narrative shorts to Henning Rosenlund of Norway for “A Marriage.” Poland’s Martin Rath won Best Documentary for “Written In Ink.”
The Abu Dhabi winners release follows:
Emirates Film Competition
The Emirates Film Competition (EFC) observes its tenth anniversary this year, marking a decade as a key platform for regional filmmakers. The EFC is dedicated to showcasing short films from established directors and new discoveries from the UAE and other GCC countries.
This year, the EFC selection comprised 44 short films from all over the Gulf region, including 29 from the UAE.
The Jury
PRESIDENT: Ahmed El Maanouni, Writer/Director/Cinematographer/Producer, Morocco
Abdullah Al Eyaf, Director/Film Critic, Saudi Arabia
Maysoon Pachachi, Director/Editor, Iraq/UK
Khadija Al Salami, Producer, Yemen
Hani Al Shaibani, Director, UAE
The jury awarded the following Black Pearl Awards in the Emirates Film Competition 2011:
Short Narrative Competition:
First Prize (AED 30,000) – Soul, directed by Fatma Abdulla (UAE)
Second Prize (AED 25,000) – Dreams of Rice, by Yasser Al Neyadi and Hana Al Shatri (UAE)
Third Prize (AED 20,000) – Telephoni, directed by Hassan Kiyany (UAE)
Special Jury Award (AED 25,000) – Raneen, directed by Maitham Al Musawi (Oman)
Best Emirati Film (AED 25,000) – Soul, directed by Fatma Abdulla (UAE)
Best Script (AED 10,000) – Dreams of Rice, by Yasser Al Neyadi and Hana Al Shatri (UAE)
Best Cinematography (AED 10,000) – Wind, directed by Waleed Al Shehhi (UAE)
Short Documentary Competition:
First Prize (AED 30,000) – A Falcon Will Not Breed a Dove, by Mansour Al Dhaheri (UAE)
Second Prize (AED 25,000) – Photon, by Awadh Al Hamzani (Saudi Arabia)
Third Prize (AED 20,000) – A Night to Remember, by Fahmi Farahat (Saudi Arabia)
Special Jury Award (AED 25,000) – Letters to Palestine, by Rashid Al Marri (UAE)
Student Short Narrative Competition:
First Prize (AED 20,000) – Maher’s Camera, by Mansour Al Badran (Saudi Arabia)
Second Prize (AED 15,000) – Mad Camel, by Mohammed Fikree (UAE)
Third Prize (AED 10,000) – Dinner #7665, by Salma Serry (UAE, Egypt)
Student Short Documentary Competition:
First Prize (AED 20,000) – 6 on 18, by Salma Serry (UAE, Egypt)
Second Prize (AED 15,000) – Layers, by Manal Wicki (UAE)
Third Prize (AED 10,000) – Lahjatna (Our Accent), by Mariam Al Nuaimi (UAE)
International Short Film Competition
As both an art form and as the first format many young filmmakers engage in, short films often take us closest to the essence of the art of cinema. The films in this competition come from all over the world and represent an amazing diversity of vision and style. The International Short Film Competition showcases inspired narrative, documentary and animated short films by emerging and esteemed international filmmakers, providing a vital source of support for the short film genre.
The 2011 selection featured 31 films from 23 countries, as well as two newly launched awards for producers of short films.
The Jury
PRESIDENT: Attia Habib, Producer, Tunisia
Nujoom Alghanem, Director, UAE
Ellen M. Harrington, Film Expert/Curator, USA
The jury awarded the following Black Pearl Awards in the International Short Film Competition 2011:
Best Narrative ($25,000) – A Marriage, directed by Henning Rosenlund (Norway)
Best Documentary ($25,000) – Written in Ink, directed by Martin Rath (Poland)
Best Animation ($20,000) – Luminaris, directed by Juan Pablo Zaramella (Argentina), shared with Specky Four-Eyes, directed by Jean-Claude Rozec (France)
Best Film from the Arab World ($25,000) – Farewell Exile, by Lamia Alami (Morocco)
Best Producer ($10,000) – Arben Zharku (Kosovo) for The Wedding Tape
Best Producer from the Arab World ($10,000) – Yacine Bouaziz (Algeria) for Tomorrow, Algiers?
About the Festival
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (formerly the Middle East International Film Festival) was established in 2007, with the aim of helping to create a vibrant film culture throughout the region. Presented each October by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, the event is committed to curating exceptional programs to engage and educate the local community, inspire filmmakers and nurture the growth of the regional film industry.
With its commitment to presenting works by Arab filmmakers in competition alongside those by major talents of world cinema, the Festival offers Abu Dhabi’s diverse and enthusiastic audiences a means of engaging with their own and others’ cultures through the art of cinema. At the same time, a strong focus on the bold new voices of Arab cinema connects with Abu Dhabi’s role as a burgeoning cultural capital in the region and marks the Festival as a place for the world to discover and gauge the pulse of recent Arab filmmaking.
ADFF 2011 is made possible in part through the generous support of its partners: MAKE UP FOR EVER (Principal Partner); Jaeger-LeCoultre and Emirates Motor Company/Mercedes-Benz (Major Partners); Etihad Airways, VOX Cinemas, TwoFour54, YahLive, Blackberry and Abu Dhabi Media (Official Partners); CNN, Radio 1, Radio 2, OSN, MUBI, Synaxis Media and Variety (Media Partners) and Masdar (Our World Partner).
