Winners of the Emirates Competition, Short Film Competition and Emirates Script Competition
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival presented Black
Pearl Awards for its two competition categories featuring short
films: the internationally selected Shorts Competition, and the
Emirates Competition, which is made up of short films from the UAE
as well as the other GCC nations.
The awards ceremony was held at the
Emirates Palace, and was presided over by Eissa Saif Rashed Al
Mazrouei, Director of Special Projects for the Abu Dhabi Authority
for Culture and Heritage, and Peter Scarlet, Executive Director of
ADFF. Also in attendance were Ali Al-Jabri, Director of the
Emirates Competition and Alice Kharoubi, ADFF Shorts
Programmer.
It was a significant event for ADFF, as it
was the first time the Emirates Competition has been a full part of
the Festival's competition. The Black Pearl Awards in the Shorts
category are also an important touchstone for up-and-coming
filmmakers. For example, last year's winner of the Black Pearl
Award for Best Middle Eastern Short Film was Tripoli,
Quiet, directed by Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia. The
co-directors went on to become recepients of our SANAD fund and
completed their feature debut, OK, Enough, Goodbye, which
was selected for this year's Festival.
The winners of the Emirates Script
Competition were also announced during the ceremony. The Script
Competition offers awards to outstanding undeveloped
screenplays.
Nouri Bouzid, President of the Emirates
Competition Jury, and jurors Kasim Abid, Abdullah Hassan Ahmed,
Ahmed Salmeen Al Ali and Haifaa Al Mansour presented the awards for
the Emirates Competition. Bouzid, from Tunisia, is one of the most
highly-regarded auteurs in the Arab world. Abid is an award-winning
Iraqi filmmaker, while Al Mansour is one of the first Saudi women
directors. Salmeen Al Ali and Hassan Ahmed are prominent among
Emirati filmmakers.
Shirin Neshat, President of the Shorts
Competition Jury, and jurors Suheir Hammad and Ali Mostafa unveiled
the awards for the Shorts competition. Neshat is an
internationally-exhibited visual artist and filmmaker. Hammad is an
award-winning Arab-American poet and actor, while Mostafa is one of
the most successful Emirati feature filmmakers.
The awards for the Emirates Script
Competion were presented by jurors Ibrahim Almulla, Mohamed Hassan
and Salah Karameh el-Amiri. Each of the three have been important
writers in the developing cultural scene of the UAE.
Emirates Competition
Best Narrative
Short - 1st Prize: Gheamt Shroog (Ahmed Zain,
United Arab Emirates)
Best Narrative Short - 2nd Prize: One More
Day (Chaker Ben Yahmed, Bahrain)
Best Narrative Short - 3rd Prize: Night Guard
(Fadel Al Muhairi, United Arab Emirates)
Best Narrative Short - Special Jury Prize: Clothesline
(Essa Aljanadri, United Arab Emirates)
Best Emirati Narrative Short: Shhh (Hafsa Al Mutawa,
Shamma Abu Nawas, United Arab Emirates)
Best Script: Gheamt Shroog (Ahmed Zain, United Arab
Emirates)
Best Cinematography: Daken (Bader Al-Hamoud, Saudi
Arabia)
Best Documentary Short - 1st Prize: The Queen
(Hadi Shuaib, United Arab Emirates)
Best Documentary Short - 2nd Prize: Coastal
Laws (Ebrahim Rashid al-Dosari, Bahrain)
Best Documentary Short - Special Jury Prize: Of Fish &
Men (Rola Shamas, United Arab Emirates)
Best Student Short Narrative - 1st Prize: Shhh
(Hafsa Al Mutawa, Shamma Abu Nawas, United Arab Emirates)
Best Student Short Narrative - 2nd Prize: I Love
You, Champs Élysées (Mahdi Ali Ali, Qatar)
Best Student Short Narrative - Special Jury Prize: The New
Cinderella (Eva Daoud, United Arab Emirates)
Best Student Short Documentary - 1st Prize: Lady of the Rosary (Sarah
Rougani, Shorooq Shaheen, Qatar)
Best Student Short Documentary - 2nd Prize: Petty
Dreams (Tariq Al Makki, Qatar)
Best Student Short Documentary - Special Jury Prize: Me In My
Country (Shorooq Shaheen, Qatar)
Emirates Script
Competition
Best Script - 1st Prize: Ebnat
al Qadr, by Mohammed Al Hammadi
Best Script - 2nd Prize: - Maktoob, by Amal Abdulla
Best Script - 3rd Prize - Fan Atlintiga', by Fatma Al Mazrouei
Shorts
Competition
Best Narrative
Short: Album (Shiraz Fradi, Tunisia)
Narrative Short - Jury Special Mention: Rita (Fabio
Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza, Italy)
Best Documentary Short: The City with a Dirty Face (Peter
King, United Kingdom)
Best Documentary Short: Cinema Azadi (Mehdi Torfee,
Iran)
Best Short from the Arab World: The Last Passenger (Mounes
Khammar, Algeria)
Best Student Short - 1st Prize: The Fifth
Column (Vatche Boulghourjian, Lebanon)
Best Student Short - 2nd Prize: The Birthday
(Luiza Pârvu, Romania)
Best Student Short - 3rd Prize: Deaf Rock n'
Roll (Cristian Pascariu, Romania)
Best Animated Short: Tord & Tord (Niki Lindroth Von
Bahr, Sweden)