Dubai: The fourth edition of the Mansour Bin Mohammad Short Film Award in Dubai is back and UAE’s youth (ages 18-30 years) can send their entries until November 7.

The annual short film award is an initiative by the Community Development Authority (CDA) in Dubai aimed at encouraging creativity and innovation mixing creative media skills and human rights values together.

Organised in line with the ‘Year of Tolerance,’ this year’s edition of the award will revolve around three main pillars:‘Youth and promoting the culture of peace’, ‘Multiple cultures, One Heart’, and ‘Yes for Bridges, No for Barriers’.

It follows a four-pronged objective: Increase community awareness about human rights; encourage the youth to use their creative skills in highlighting human rights values; develop creative capabilities of the youth in arts, and to establish the values of tolerance, cultural diversity, combating discrimination and extremism among today’s younger generation.

Maitha Al Shamsi, CEO, Human Rights Sector, CDA, explained that the award has been able to generate key success as an innovative channel that aims to increase awareness of human rights issues while also encouraging young people to express these rights through the use of their creative and artistic skills and talents. Al Shamsi said, “Tolerance has been a long-followed value that the UAE has encouraged since its establishment as a nation. The country is widely known for its promotion of the values of tolerance, peace and respect of others.”

Al Shamsi revealed that this year’s edition of the award will see for the first time a panel of judges made up of youth representatives from select universities, in addition to the regular panel of judges. These young jurors will be tasked with selecting winning entries for each category based on the film’s messages to the younger generation.

BOX:

What: Mansour Bin Mohammad Short Film Award

Who: Open to youth in the UAE, aged 18 to 30 years

When: Entries accepted until November 7, 2019

Prizes: 1st prize winner of each category: Dh30,000; 2nd prize winner: Dh20,000; 3rd prize: Dh15,000

For more information: www.cda.gov.ae