Gulf Film Festival announces competition juries

A separate jury will award prizes in the Emirates Script Competition.

GFF will take place from April 13-18 at Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Center at Mall of Emirates.

Festival Director Masoud Amralla al Ali spoke on the preparations for the first-time event: "We are pleased to announce we have secured a highly esteemed jury for our inaugural festival. These international and regional experts will have a difficult time distinguishing among the accomplished entries we have received.

GFF jury members will be: Egyptian director Daoud Abdel Sayed, honoured with a special screening of two of his films in the "Directors in Spotlight" segment during the inaugural edition of the Dubai International Film Festival in 2004 ; Mr. Erfan Rashid, a prominent Iraqi film critic based in Italy; Omani filmmaker and critic Abdullah Habib; UAE actor Ahmed Al Jasmi; and Nadira Ardjoun, co-organiser of the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in France.

Jurists for the Emirates Script Competition are Kuwaiti novelist Ismail Fahad Ismail, scriptwriter Rashid al-Jobar from Bahrain, and writer/director Naji al Hai from the UAE.

The GFF will be dedicated to the best in cinema from the Gulf countries (the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Kingdom of Bahrain, Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Republic of Iraq and Republic of Yemen) along with select international films.

In celebrating the cinematic excellence of the region, GFF aims to become a destination festival that will showcase what Gulf cinema can offer to the international film community.

Beside the Official Competition, GFF will be comprised of several other programming segments: Out of Competition will show Gulf feature and short films from around the world; and In the Spotlight will showcase short films celebrating a particular director's experience, a cinematic movement, or a certain country.

The cash prizes for the Official Competition Feature category are Dhs50,000 and Dhs35,000 for first and second prize.

First, second and third prizes in the Documentary and Shorts sections stand to win Dhs25,000, Dhs20,000 and Dhs15,000, and the Special Jury Prize is a purse of Dhs20,000.

In the Students' Competition Awards; the top three awards for Documentary and Short films carry cash prizes of Dhs20,000, Dhs15,000, and Dhs10,000.

Special Jury Prize in the Students' Competition is Dhs15,000

The Script Competition for Emirati Short Films will award Dhs50, 000 for first prize and Dhs40,000 and 30, 000 for second and third prizes.

All prize monies must be allotted to the production of a film in the UAE, to be screened at GFF 2009.

In order to participate and compete, all films must be directed by a Gulf national or with a subject and storyline centered around the Gulf region and/or Gulf history or culture. The submitted work must not be a television programme or an episode of a series.