The clear winner was Hani Al Shaibani, an Emirati filmmaker who won four awards for short film Young Sadness and feature film The Hotel. The awards were for Best Short Film in the UAE, Best Feature Film in the Gulf, Best Script and Best Editing.
"It's like a dream. I thought that I would win only one because there are 14 other films in the competition this year," Al Shaibani said.
The 35-year-old Emirati filmmaker has no plans to stop his stellar career anytime soon.
"I am preparing to shoot a commercial feature film sometime next year in Dubai. It's a romantic comedy between an Emirati boy and a half Emirati, half Indian girl," he said.
Other winning entries of this year's event included a Special Award for Crossing, a short film by Emirati director Ali Jamal, Best GCC Film for Burning Flowers by Bahraini director Mohammad Ebrahim while Whiteness by Omani director Khalid Al Khalbani won the Jury Special Award in the same category.
This year's Jury decided not to present the awards for Best Short Documentary Film and Best GCC Documentary Film this year. Instead, they gave Special Appreciation Awards to UAE directors Ahmad Zain, Ahmad Arshi and Hanan Al Muhairi for their films, Al Hamra Island and Our Right to Ride.
