The Dubai International Film Festival has announced the juries for its Muhr competition strands, which include actress Freida Pinto, Brazilian filmmaker Bruno Barreto and UK director Michael Apted.

Pinto will be part of the jury evaluating the short film awards across all categories - Muhr Arab, Muhr AsiaAfrica and Muhr Emirati. The jury will be headed by Screen International chief critic and reviews editor Mark Adams and also include Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja.

Apted will head the Muhr Arab Documentary Jury, which will also include Jordanian documentary filmmaker Azza El Hassan and Chris Fujiwara, artistic director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Barreto has been appointed jury president for the Muhr Arab Feature competition, which will screen 16 features following the withdrawal of two Syrian films (see separate story). He will be joined by Egyptian actor Asser Yassin, Tunisian director Moufida Tlatli, acclaimed author Adnan Madanat and Martin Schweighofer, CEO of the Austrian Film Commission.

The jury for the Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature competition will be headed by Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong and also include Istanbul film festival director Azize Tan, Iranian actress Fatemah Motamed-Aria, New Zealand actress Kerry Fox and Nigerian director and DoP Tunde Kelani.

The Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary jury will be headed by award-winning Palestinian documentary filmmaker Mai Masri and also include South Korean documentarian Kim Dong-won and German filmmaker Bettina Blumner.

More than 80 films are competing for the Muhr awards which come with a combined $575,000 in prize money across the various categories. Arabic features will also be eligible for the FIPRESCI prize.

“The juries are comprised of film professionals from around the world, bringing years of experience to the assessment of their peers’ work,” said DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma.

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