Dubai: The talents of Emirati filmmakers were recognised and praised at the closing ceremony of the Gulf Film Festival.
Directors, producers, actors and actresses from the region walked the red carpet at Dubai Festival City's Crowne Plaza, before heading into the ballroom where the third edition winners were announced.
Winners in the Official Competition for short, documentary and feature films screened at the seven-day event included home-grown UAE talent.
Ali Al Jabri, Fadel Al Muhairi, Ahmad Zain all received a special mention in the Official Short category while Ali Mostafa picked up a Special Jury Prize for the feature film City Of Life.
The top prize in the short, documentary and feature categories went to Abdullah Al Eyaf from Saudi Arabia for her film Aayesh, Indian Soniya Kirpalani for Dobuy - The Fabric of Faith and Shawkat Amin Korki from Iraq for Kick Off.
The third edition of the Gulf Film Festival, held under the patronage of Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture, also honoured the winners of the Student and Emirati Short Film Script Competition.
The festival this year saw 194 films from 41 countries screened at Dubai Festival City's Grand Cinemas.
A total of 54 films entered the official competition for best feature (7), documentary (9) and shorts (38) with more than Dh480,000 handed out in prize money to the winners.
Highly commended
The jury was headed by accomplished Moroccan filmmaker Jillali Ferhati who said the standard at this year's festival should be "highly commended".
He was joined by Saudi filmmaker and critic Mohammad Al Dahri, Emirati actor Ebrahim Salim, Yemeni filmmaker Khadija Al Salami and Matthieu Darras, Artistic Director of the International Film Festival Bratislava in Slovakia.
First prize in the Student Competition (short) went to Amjad Al Hinai and Khamis Ambo-Saidi from Oman for Tasreeb.
Hafsa Al Mutawa and Shamma Abu Nawas's SHHH was given a category special mention.
The budding Emirati filmmakers said: "As young Emirati filmmakers we have faced many obstacles in terms of support from the film industry. As well as the media, other filmmakers don't accept the fact that there are young talented Emirati filmmakers competing with them."
Internationally-renowned Iraqi actor and playwright Khalil Shawki, Emirati actress Raziqa Al Taresh and Kuwaiti actress Hayat Al Fahad all received the Lifetime Achievement Awards during the festival.
The Gulf Film Festival was supported by Dubai Culture and is held in association with Dubai Studio City.
