Valery Todorovsky’s Russian entry Hipsters (Stilyagi) won the $100,000 narrative feature Black Pearl award as the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) came to a close at the weekend.

Best New Narrative Director and a prize of $50,000 went to Glendyn Ivin for Last Ride (Australia), and Best Middle Eastern Narrative Film and $100,000 was awarded to Elia Suleiman’s Palestine-UK-Italy-Belgium-France entry The Time That Remains (Al Zaman Al Baqi).

The Black Pearl Award for Best New Middle Eastern Narrative Director and a $50,000 prize was presented to Pelin Esmer’s Turkey-France-Germany film 10 To 11 (11’e 10 Kala).

The $25,000 best actor and actress awards went to Hamed Behdad for the Iranian film No One Knows About Persian Cats and Alicia Laguna and Sonia Couoh for the Mexican entry Northless (Norteado), which earned a Jury Special Mention.

In the documentary feature competition the $100,000 Black Pearl Award for Best Documentary Film went to T C McLuhan’s The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, A Torch for Peace(Afghanistan-India-Pakistan-USA) and Best New Documentary Director and a $50,000 prize went to Johan Grimonprez for Double Take (Netherlands-Belgium).

Best Middle Eastern Documentary Film and a $100,000 award went to Orhan Eskikoy and Ozgur Dogan’s Turkish film On the Way To School(İki Dil Bir Bavul) and Best New Middle Eastern Documentary Director and $50,000 went to Mohamed Zran for the Tunisian entry Being Here. Franny Armstrong’s UK entry The Age Of Stupid received a Jury Special Mention.

In the Short Film Competition, the $25,000 prizes went to Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland’s New Zealand entry The Six Dollar Fifty Man for bet narrative, Supriyo Sen and Najaf Bilgrami’s Pakistan-India-Germany film Wagah for best documentary, and Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia’s Lebanese film Tripoli, Quiet (Trablos Al‐Hada) for Best Middle Eastern Short.

Best Student Short and the first prize of $15,000 was awarded to Runar Runarsson’s Danish film Anna.

Over the course of the MEIFF”s ten-day run, audiences saw 128 films, of which there were 17 narrative features, 14 documentary features, 25 short films, and ten student shorts.

A special Black Pearl Award for lifetime achievement was presented to Vanessa Redgrave during the October 8 opening night ceremony.

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