6th Dubai International Film Festival

In the last six years the Dubai International Film Festival has become one of the leading film events of the Thirld World and the Arab Region. This year the festival showcased 168 features, shorts, documentaries and animation from 55 countries. The international programing team led by artistic director Masoud Amralla Al Ali has put a rich and exciting program together focused on the Arabic and Asia-African cinema. Sidebar programs offered a good selection of World Cinema, Children Films, films from the Gulf, India and a balanced selection of the contemporary French cinema. Six competition programs were competing for the Muhr Awards: Arab Features, Arab Documentaries, Arab Shorts, AsiaAfrica Features, AsiaAfrica Documentaries and AsiaAfrica Shorts. That was the second time Fipresci installed a jury in Dubai enjoying the brilliant hospitality of the world’s fastest growing city and festival. Our jury focused on two competition programs: the Arab features and – for the first time – the Arab shorts. The award for the best feature film in the Arab competition program went to Merzak Allouache for Harragas (Algeria/France) for its complexity in depicting one of the most serious human problems of the Third World: the immigration. This year Fipresci also introduced an award for best Arab short which was clinched by Mohammad Aldhahri for Sunrise/Sunset (Shrouq/Ghroub, Saudi Arabia) for its simple strong style and courageous approach of the undercurrent problems that a young boy is facing in our society. (György Báron, edited by Steven Yates) 

Dubai International Film Festival: www.dubaifilmfest.com