Hipsters, Time That Remains among Black Pearl winners

Abu Dhabi: The Middle East International Film Festival 2009 came to a sensational close with the presentation of the Black Pearl Awards. 128 films from around the world competed for this prize, which, to all the filmmakers who participated in this year’s festival, was just the icing on the cake.

For them, it was enough that they had the chance to showcase their films to the multi-cultural audiences who saw them.

Here are the winners for this year’s Black Pearl Awards:

Narrative Feature Competition
 

• Black Pearl Award for Best Narrative Film ($100,000): Hipsters, directed by Valery Todorovsky – Russia
• Black Pearl Award for Best New Narrative Director ($50,000): Glendyn Ivin, Last Ride – Australia
• Black Pearl Award for Best Middle Eastern Narrative Film ($100,000): The Time That Remains, directed by Elia Suleiman – Palestine, UK, Belgium, France
• Black Pearl Award for Best New Middle Eastern Narrative Director ($50,000): Pelin Esmer, 10 to 11, Turkey, France, Germany
• Black Pearl Award for Best Actor ($25,000): Hamed Behdad, No One Knows About Persian Cats – Iran
• Black Pearl Award for Best Actress ($25,000): Alicia Laguna and Sonai Couoh, Northless – Mexico
• Jury Special Mention: Northless, directed by Rigoberto Perezcano – Mexico

Documentary Feature Competition

• Black Pearl Award for Best Documentary Film ($100,000): The Frontier Ghandi: Badshah Khan, A Torch For Peace, directed by T.C. McLuhan – Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, USA
• Black Pearl Award for Best New Documentary Director ($50,000): Johan Grimonprez, Double Take – Netherlands, Belgium
• Black Pearl Award for Best Middle Eastern Documentary Film ($50,000): On the Way to School, directed by Orhan Eskikoy and Ozgur Dogan – Turkey
• Black Pearl Award for Best New Middle Eastern Documentary Director ($50,000): Mohamed Zran, Being Here – Tunisia
• Jury Special Mention: The Age of Stupid, directed by Franny Armstrong – UK

Short Film Competition

• Black Pearl Award for Best Narrative Short ($25,000): The Six Dollar Fifty Man, directed by Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland – New Zealand
• Black Pearl Award for Best Documentary Short ($25,000): Wagah, directed by Supriyo Sen and Najaf Bilgrami – Paksitan, India, Germany
• Black Pearl Award for Best Middle Eastern Short ($25,000): Tripoli, Quiet, directed by Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia – Lebanon

Black Pearl Award for Best Student Short

• First Prize ($15,000): Anna, directed by Runar Runarsson – Denmark
• Second Prize ($10,000): Kasia, directed by Elisabet Llado – Belgium
• Third Prize ($5,000): Schautag, directed by Marvin Kren – Germany

Jury Special Mention

• Short Narrative: The Employmen, directed by Santiago ‘Bou’ Grasso – Argentina
• Short Documentary: The Herd, directed by Ken Wardrop – Ireland
• Middle East Short: Fatenah, directed by Ahmad Habash – Palestine
• Middle East Short: Spring 89, directed by Ayten Amin – Egypt
• Student Short: Our Neck of the Woods, directed by Rob Connolly - USA