Dubai: The Dubai International Film Festival doesn’t just screen films — it helps them get made, including this year’s opening film, Hany Abu Assad’s Omar. On Tuesday, the festival organisers announced the 14 films that received funding this year from the festival through its Enjaaz programme, with the majority screening at the festival, which begins on Friday night with the screening of Omar.
These include Egyptian director Mohammad Khan’s The Factory Girl, which has its red carpet world premiere on Sunday night at Madinat Arena.
Enjaaz assists regional filmmakers in completing feature films
Since the fund was launched in 2009, 80 films have received support. The next Enjaaz deadlines are February 1 and July 1, 2014, and organistesr encourage all filmmakers from the Arab world — emerging and established — to apply.
The fesival also announced the first recipients of the Filmi programme supporting Emirati talent. They are Dolphins (Walid Shehhi) and documentary Red Blue Yellow (Nujoom Al Ganem), which will be screened on December 9.
