Abu Dhabi: Emirati director Hani Al Shaibani won not one, not two but four awards at the ninth Emirates Film Competition, which took place on Friday, October 16.
Al Shaibani had entered two films: Young Sadness and The Hotel, a short film and a feature film respectively.
His 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.
Other winning entries of this year’s event included a Special Award in the UAE short film category to Ali Jamal for his film Crossing, a Special Appreciation Award to Ahmed Zain and Ahmed Arshi for their film Al Hamra Island, Best GCC Film to Mohammad Ibrahim from Bahrain for his film Burning Flowers and the Jury Special Award for the same category went to Khalid Al Khalbani from Oman for his film, Whiteness.
The Emirates Film Competition runs from October 12 to 15 as part of the Middle East International Film Festival’s (MEIFF) 2009.
This is the film festival’s third year and it is due to end on Saturday, October 17.
