Gulf Film Festival throws down the gauntlet to Arab talent

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• Awards worth AED485,000 to be won by professional and student filmmakers of Gulf nationality


• Submissions now being accepted online at www.gulffilmfest.com till Feb. 15, 2010

 
Dubai -  The Gulf Film Festival, the annual event celebrating Gulf cinema and an initiative under the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), is offering more critical funding and support to Gulf film talent.
 
The festival is an accomplishment of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to further strengthen local and regional talent in culture and arts, and provide a strong infrastructure for growth.
 
Nearly half a million dirhams in prize money will be won by professional filmmakers and emerging young talent of Gulf nationality at the third Gulf Film Festival (GFF).
 
The event takes place in Dubai from April 8-14 under the patronage of HH Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority.
 
An annual non-profit celebration of the highest standards of Gulf cinema, GFF is now accepting entries into its two main competitions for 2010: the Film Competition and Script Competition. The last date for submission of entries is February 15, 2010.
 
GFF Chairman and Dubai Culture Board Member Abdulhamid Juma said: “The Gulf Film Festival is one of the key initiatives of the Authority that provides film makers from the Gulf a vibrant platform for growth allowing the Gulf film industry to thrive towards international recognition."
 
GFF Festival Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali said: “In just two years, the Gulf Film Festival has created a groundswell of interest in filmmaking in the region, especially among the youth. This is an exciting foundation on which to build, and we’re anticipating even more entries than last year into the various categories of the 2010 event.”
 
He said: “Gulf films and filmmakers need their own platform in order to grow and realize their full potential. The Gulf Film Festival has answered this call with impressive results.”
 
The 2010 Film Competition has two categories: the Official Competition for professional filmmakers and a contest for students.
 
The Official Competition is for films from the Gulf region – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar – as well as Yemen and Iraq. The Student Competition is open to works made or produced by students during their academic study, or as part of a college project.
 
Entries in the Official Competition are invited in three categories: Feature Films, Short Films, and Documentaries. Students compete in short films and documentaries only.
 
The Gulf Film Festival’s Script Competition is for Emirati short film entries from UAE Nationals exclusively. To nurture the local industry, all prize money goes towards producing the three winning scripts in the UAE.
 
In total, prize money worth AED485,000 will be awarded to the winning films at GFF. In the Feature Films category of the Official Competition, first prize is AED50,000 and second receives AED35,000.
 
In the Documentaries category, first prize is AED25,000, second earns AED20,000, and third place is awarded AED15,000. A Special Jury Prize of AED20,000 goes to either the winning feature film or documentary.
 
A Special Jury Prize of AED20,000 is also awarded to the winning short film in the Official Competition. In addition, the best short film receives AED25,000, the runner up gets AED20,000, third wins AED15,000, and the best script also receives AED15,000.
 
In the Documentary Films category of the Student Competition, first, second and third place are awarded AED20,000, AED15,000, and AED10,000 respectively.
 
There are also three prize categories in the Short Films section for students, with the same allocation of prize money. A Special Jury Prize of AED15,000 goes to the best documentary or short.
 
UAE Nationals entering this year’s Script Competition are competing for a total of AED120,000 in prize money. First place wins AED50,000, second AED40,000, and AED30,000 is awarded for third place.
 
Entries into all the GFF competitions this year are accepted online, at www.gulffilmfest.com.
 
The third Gulf Film Festival is presented by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority in association with Dubai Studio City.
 
The second edition of the festival, screened 169 films from 32 countries, and featured 47 world premieres and 18 international premieres.
 
GFF 2009 showed eight feature films, 27 documentaries, 106 short fiction selections, and 28 animated films. The festival also screened numerous international films as part of its mandate to encourage wider film appreciation and to develop skills at the grassroots level.

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