Gulf Film Festival honours the best

A glittering red carpet reception and awards ceremony brought the first Gulf Film Festival to a spectacular close on Friday at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai.

Six days, 146 films and more than 10,000 visitors were the statistics, however nobody could put a figure on the amount of energy created by directors, producers and filmmakers from around the region.

GFF, the first film festival to recognise the best in local and regional cinema, included presentations to the three honorees for the inaugural edition, as well as a number of special mentions for contributions to film in the Middle East.

Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Culture and Arts Authority, attended the closing ceremony.

Fame

Little Dubai Abdullah Abulhoul, who hit the headlines as the youngest director in the festival, also enjoyed her five minutes of fame as the press shouted and called her name as she walked her first red carpet.

The youngest director at the Gulf Film Festival, the Emirati schoolgirl directed and produced a short animation feature titled Galagolia.

Directors, producers and film fans from the GCC, including Abdul Hussain Abdul Reda, Sa'ad Al Faraj, Mohammad Al Mansour and Zahra Arafat from Kuwait, Abdullah Abdul Malek, Fatima Abdul Rahim, Abdul Aziz Jassem, Haifa Hussain and Anwar Ahmad from Qatar, and Saleh Za'al from Oman walked the red carpet.

UAE artists who attended the ceremony included Ali Al Abdul, Dr Habib Ghuloum, Mariam Sultan, Samira Ahmad, Bilal Abdullah, Mouza Al Mazroui and Jaber Naghmoush.

Abdul Hussain Al Reda, the legendary Kuwaiti actor, Sa'ad Al Faraj, one of the major contributors to the drama movement in Kuwait, and the UAE's Ali Al Abdul, the creative genius behind the videos of many of the Arab world's renowned singing talent, were presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Tears of joy

And it was at this point the tears of joy began to flow and the emotions began to show. Parents, wives and children cheered as the trio made their acceptance speeches, causing a few choked moments on stage.

Adbul Hussain Al Reda ruled the charts in the '70s and '80s with a series of well-crafted theatre plays and a television series, while Sa'ad Al Faraaj is renowned for having written several books on the evolution of the performing arts in Kuwait and received various national, regional and international awards.

Jury

The Festival's esteemed jury comprised Egyptian director Daoud Abdul Sayed, Iraqi film critic Erfan Rashid, Omani filmmaker and critic Abdullah Habib, Emirati actor Ahmad Al Jasmi and Nadira Ardjoun.

Co-organiser of the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival awarded the top prizes in the categories of feature, shorts and documentary in the Official Competition, as well as short and documentary in the Students' Competition.

Kuwaiti novelist Esmail Fahad Esmail, scriptwriter Rashid Al Jobar from Bahrain, and writer-director Naji Al Hai from the UAE comprised the jury who had the difficult task of selecting the award-winning scripts in the Emirates Script Competition.

A celebration reception was held after the award ceremony.

Prizes

In the professional category of the official competition, the cash prizes are as follows:

Feature: first prize Dh50,000 and Dh35,000 for second.

Documentary: first prize Dh25,000, Dh20,000 for second and Dh15,000 for third.

Shorts: first prize Dh25,000, Dh20,000 for second and Dh15,000 for third.

A Special Jury Prize will also be awarded for Dh20,000.

In the official competition in the students' category, cash prizes are as follows:

Documentary: first prize Dh20,000, Dh15,000 for second and Dh10,000 for third.

Shorts: first prize Dh20,000, Dh15,000 for second and Dh10,000 for third.

A Special Jury Prize awarded Dh15,000.

A Script Competition for Emirati Short Films awarded Dh50,000 for first prize, Dh40,000 for second and Dh30,000 for third.

Complete list of winners

The winners of the script competition for Emirati short films are:

First prize was awarded to Esmail Abdullah's Al Mansiyyah.

Second prize went to The Rooster by Omar Ebrahim.

Third prize went to Al Ghawi by Abdullah Hassan Ahmad and Yousuf Ebrahim.

The prizes in the documentary competition award for students were as follows:

First prize to Leaving by Bahram Al Zuhairi from Iraq.

Second prize went to Mission Of Hope by Aisha Al Muhairi and Asma Ahmad from the UAE.

Third prize was awarded to A Candle for the Shabandar Café by Iraqi Imad Ali.

The special mention in this category was awarded to Access Denied by UAE's Nawar Al Shamsi.

The short competition awards by students were won by the following:

First prize went to Realism Beats by Dawood Al Kiyumi and Yasir Al Kiyumi from Oman.

Second prize went to Iraq's Personal Calendar by Basheer Al Majid.

Third prize went to White and White by Bader Al Homoud from Saudi Arabia.

The special jury prize in this segment went to The Sea Hides by Hamad Abdullah Saghran from the UAE.

The prizes for official short films in competition were as follows:

First prize went to Tenbak by Abdullah Hassan Ahmad from the UAE.

Second prize was awarded to Bint Mariam by Saeed Salmeen Al Murry from the UAE.

Third prize went to Belooh by Amer Al Rawas from Oman.

The special mention went to UAE filmmakers Sameer Karam for his cinematography in Tenbak and Nevin Madhi for her role in Bint Mariam.

Winners of the official documentary competition included:

First prize went to Amer Al Zuhair from Kuwait for When The People Spoke - Part II.

The second prize went to UAE's Nasser Al Yakoubi for Mountain Shaikh.

Third prize went to Oday Salah's One Day in Khadimya Prison For Women from Iraq.

The special mention went to Nights of Gypsy's Descent by Hadi Mahmoud from Iraq and Al Mureed by Nujoom Al Ganem from the UAE.

Special jury prize in the official competition went to www.gilgamesh.21 by Iraqi Tariq Hashim.

The top honours in the official feature films competition went to Iraq and Bahrain:

The first prize went to Iraqi film Ahlaam by Mohammad Al Daradji.

The second prize was awarded to Four Girls by Hussain Abbas Al Hulaibi from Bahrain.

The special mention was presented to Rashid Al Shamrani for his role and script in Sabah Allil from Saudi Arabia.