Dubai: Entries have been called for the second edition of Anasy Documentary Awards (ADA) which will begin in April 2010.
With over Dh1 million given away as the highest prize money ever in the Arab world, Anasy Documentary Awards is considered to be the first of its kind in the UAE, as it specialises in documentary films.
More than 250 documentary films from 21 countries participated in May 2008, when the award was first launched.
Dhekra Ouali, Director, Anasy Documentary Awards, said in a press conference on Tuesday that the main objective of the award is to encourage and support the documentary film industry.
It also honours the pioneering efforts of documentary making in the Arab world and across the globe.
"We would like to see the advancement of the documentary film industry from the amateur level to a professional one in the Emirates and around the Arab world. Hence, it is important to encourage the winners through cash prizes, helping them to produce more creative and innovative films," she said.
"The value of awards will remain the same as the previous session of ADA, which is Dh1.05 million. A sum of Dh500,000 will be given to the winner of the first award. Half of this sum will be given in cash and the other half will be in the form of production support in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Media Zone — twofour 54," said Ouali.
The Anasy Documentary Awards 2010 will have competitions in three different categories. The free topic competition ‘Talk Doc' will have entries from documentary films that have social, cultural, historical, scientific and sporting subjects.
The second category ‘child in our eyes' competition is a specialised segment for films that deal with all topics related to the child. This category is included following the agreement between Anasy Media Production-ADA and United Nation Childrens Foundation (Unicef) for a long term cooperation to raise public awareness on child and youth rights issues. It also aims to provide opportunities to youth for active participation at the regional and international in the industry of documentary film-making.
The third segment, the script competition, will have script ideas and projects for documentary films. The winning ideas will be adopted and their production will be supervised by ADA.
There will also be a silver award, bronze award and the best film for the category of ‘child in our eyes'.
Other awards include best child documentary produced by youth, best script, best photography, best director, best editing, best research, best character and best idea /message.
Submission of forms
Interested candidates can submit the forms on ADA's website www.anasydocawards.com. Submissions will start from today until February 10, 2010. Entries for the various categories should abide by the topics and the duration of the film should be 28 minutes or more. The film should have a written translation or dubbing in both Arabic and English.
