Dubai International Film Festival open for entries

The eighth edition of the Dubai International Film Festival, to be held December 7-14, is open for entries. 

Entries are invited for the festival’s 2011 official screening selection including the Muhr Arab, Muhr Asia Africa and Muhr Emirati competitions, and its out-of-competition section.

The Muhr Awards, presented for shorts, documentaries and feature films, offer a US$600,000 purse and are open to directors of Arab origin from around the world, their counterparts from Asia and Africa and UAE nationals respectively.

Entries are free and must be submitted before August 31. The shortlist will be announced in November.

DIFF is also inviting filmmakers to participate in its other initiatives. Filmmakers of Arab origin are invited to apply for festival’s co-production and post-production initiatives, as well as its myriad international collaborations. 

The Dubai Film Connection, DIFF’s co-production market, will shortlist 15 director-producer teams to receive more than US$100,000 in funding, industry networking and access to specialists who help realize their documentary and feature film works in progress. Submissions for the fifth Dubai Film Connection, scheduled for December 8 to 11, will close on August 1.

The festival’s post-production support programme, Enjaaz, is also accepting applications until August 1. Enjaaz offers 15 filmmakers up to US$100,000 each to help their projects move through the final stage of filmmaking.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, DIFF’s artistic director, said: “Our festival is an established destination for the discovery of Arab, Asian and African cinema; our track record in catapulting films to the international domain is unmatched in the region.”