The Middle East International Film Festival Poster competition deadline 10th August

The competition was announced earlier this year at the MEIFF press conference held at the Cannes International Film Festival. Since then submissions to the competition have been pouring in. Sabah Al Abbasi Shawati's Executive Director, quoted:

"So far, we are satisfied at the number of submissions that Shawati has received for this competition and we're looking forward to receiving more from this region, only to highlight the amount of talent embedded in the Arab world."

Just as MEIFF highlights the talents of filmmakers and actors from around the world, the Poster Design Competition was created to offer talented artists and artists the opportunity to become involved in the festival in a way other than film. The theme of the poster is simple. It should reflect the mission statement of MEIFF and have the black pearl, the symbol of the festival, incorporated as a main element in the poster and any graphic, photographic or calligraphic elements can be used to highlight the national identity of the UAE and the culture in the region.

The winning poster will be the official poster of MEIFF and will be featured in advertisements and promotional material associated with the festival. MEIFF's Artistic Director Mohamed Gomaa quotes, "The Black Pearl is really inspiring, everyone can have their own visual interpretation of it. We need to explore with artists the horizons of creativity that can be made by playing with the logo, this is why we are giving students and professionals of all ages and abilities the opportunity to explore every visual possibility of the Black Pearl".

The prize for the winner will be an all-expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi to attend the festival to be held from October 10-19 2008 and will receive full access to attend all Gala events and screenings for the entire duration of the festival. The winning designer will also have their work featured in Shawati magazine. The top 5 designers in the competition will also have their designs displayed in the Emirates Palace, the main venue of MEIFF.

Participants can submit a maximum of two different designs and information should be in Arabic or English only. Digital files must be in JPEG, TIFF or PDF formats with a resolution of 300dpi while the dimensions of poster should be 68.8 x 94 cm for the artwork and 68.8 x 10 cm blank rectangle for logo placements and a 2 cm clearance white border all around the poster.

Entries should be saved on one CD per entry and should be clearly labeled with the name of the participant, the file name and the extension with a thumbnail o the artwork on the CD cover. All entries should be accompanied by a brief 300-word summary of the artwork that should be included in the CD as a word document or PDF file. The winning poster will be rated by a panel of three judges appointed by Shawati media.