MUMBAI: The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) invited filmmakers from Africa, Asia and the Arab world to submit their projects for consideration for the Muhr Arab Awards and the Muhr AsiaAfrica Awards, in their fourth and second year, respectively.
The competitions feature cash prizes in the categories of Feature, Documentary and Short films, and have generated publicity for emerging and established filmmakers from across the Arab world and beyond.
DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralla Al Ali said, "We welcome and encourage artists to submit their work, not only for the financial prize but for the recognition that the competition offers. A number of winning films from past competitions have been acquired by sales agents and broadcasters, and the directors have been deservedly applauded for their work."
"Each year, we have been impressed with the quality and diversity of selections, and we are confident that 2009 will be no different. Given the yearly increase in submissions for the Awards, we are expecting a record number of projects for our preliminary juries to choose from," he added.
Films eligible for both competitions must be directed by an Arab, Asian or African filmmaker and the subject and storyline of the film must be centered around the Arab, Asian or African world and/or history and culture for the respective competitions.
Films must be produced after 1 September, 2008 and submitted to DIFF before 31 August, 2009. Films must not have been screened in the Gulf region for any audiences before DIFF, with the exception of projects that have participated in the second edition of the Gulf Film Festival (GFF); films from outside of the Gulf region must be Gulf premieres and films from the Gulf region must be UAE premieres. Until the end of DIFF, films must not have been broadcasted via television, internet, mobile phone or any other public viewing platform.
Shortlisted projects will be announced in November, 2009. The Dubai International Film Festival will take place from 9 – 16 December, 2009.
