The Middle East International Film Festival opens its doors to entries

The announcement was made at the United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi pavilion, in the International Village at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival.

Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage which hosts the festival, and Nashwa Al Ruwaini, Director of the Festival and board member were present to discuss the call for entries and its submission deadline of 10th August and the new line up for this year's festival.

Mohamed Al Mazrouei said, 'We are honoured to be here at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. We wanted to ensure our position at this prestigious festival in order to highlight to the world our seriousness at becoming an international player within the international film industry. We have opened our doors in Abu Dhabi to everyone who has an interest in film. Abu Dhabi has a lot of potential and we want people to be a part of this. I am confident that MEIFF this year will grow on its success and we hope to welcome more people to our film festival this year'.

The new additions to this year's MEIFF, which is to be held at the Emirates Palace from 10th-19th October this year, include the prestigious Black Pearl Awards. New additions to the competition categories include, Student films with prizes for 'Best Fiction Film', Best Documentary' and 'Best Animation Film'.

In an effort to keep up with the times, Nashwa Al Ruwaini the festival's Director has introduced the 'International Competition for Advertisements', which is aimed at rewarding marketing executives for their campaigns that have made a strong impact on audiences worldwide.

Nashwa said, 'Advertising campaigns have captivated audiences worldwide as they define brands, social causes, elections, products and emotional connections to cultures and travel destinations. This is why we want to recognise the creative minds behind these advertisements'.

Prizes for advertising are to be given in the categories of 'Best Essential Objects', 'Best Luxurious Objects' and 'Best Television, Cinema and Digital Techniques'.

The programming sections of the festival have also been revised this year with new elements including, Environmental films, an out of competition section aimed at highlighting Abu Dhabi's vision of becoming heavily environmentally friendly. This section will be programmed in conjunction with Wild Screen from the UK as they have just signed a deal with the Abu Dhabi Government to further develop their ARKive project for the documentation of endangered species worldwide.

MEIFF will also showcase 16 hours of documentaries to highlight the 60 years since the division of Palestine. This section of programming will show documentaries about this catastrophic event in the Arab history directed by non-Arab filmmakers aiming at highlighting the non-Arab viewpoint.

Other elements will include, the 'Festival of Festivals', a selection of programming showcasing films from other festivals around the world, and the Emirates Film Competition (EFC), headed by Emirati filmmaker, Abdalla Bastaki. The EFC is now in its 8th session, previously a separate event held in Abu Dhabi annually but now becoming an element of MEIFF this year. The EFC will be giving films from the Gulf region a larger platform to showcase their work and increased opportunities to network with international filmmakers and film financers.

The EFC will have a wide selection of its own programs from around the GCC region as well as the 'Majlis', a specialised event inviting six international film critics to constructively analyse the films in the EFC and provide advice to the filmmakers. The EFC will have its own awards for the GCC filmmakers, with the best of the competition being judged in the international competition sections.

MEIFF executives also announced their collaboration with the New York Film Academy, which recently opened a branch in Abu Dhabi, to encourage their students to make short films that can be considered for entry into the international competition for Student films during MEIFF this year.

Another collaboration on an artistic side, will be with Shawati Magazine, Abu Dhabi's exclusive and luxurious cultural magazine, to open up submissions for Poster designs for MEIFF this year. The international competition is open to everyone around the world to submit at least two poster designs each, giving entrants the opportunity to add their artistic contribution to the festival.

The competition will be judged later this year by an international panel of judges.