Murk Light, Dreams In Their Eyes among winners of ADFF's Emirates Film Competition

Yassir Al Yassri’s Murk Light [pictured] and Abeer Al Marzouqi, Khawla Al Maamari & Ayesha Al Amri’s Dreams In Their Eyes are among the shorts announced as winners of the 11th Emirates Film Competition (EFC), presented by Dolphin Energy at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF).

Al Yassri’s short won first prize in the EFC Short Narrative Competition, which carries a AED30,000 prize, and was praised for “possessing and executing deep visual concepts with a mature cinematic voice”, while Al Marzouqi, Al Maamari & Al Amri’s short won the Best Emirati Film for “shining with its strong direction by three young female Emirati filmmakers”. Stijn Van Der Veken won the best cinematography award for his work on Murk Light.

Other winners at this year’s EFC included Abdullah Hassan Ahmed’s Smaller Than The Sky which took second prize in the Short Narrative Competition as well as scooping best script.

Presided by President Ridha Behi (Tunisia), the EFC jury consisted of Bader Ben Hirsi (UK), Ali Al Ali (Bahrain), Suha Salem (Iraq) and Ahd Kamel (Saudi Arabia).

This year, the EFC selection comprised of 46 short films from all over the Gulf region, including 39 from the UAE.

The winners of the International Short Film Competition have also been announced by ADFF with the prize for best narrative, which carries a $25,000 award, going to Iair Said’s 9 Vaccines.

Also among the winners were Ventura Durall’s The Hidden Smile, which scooped best documentary, while Amin Sidi-Boumédiene’s The Island - Al Djazira won best film from the Arab world.

The international short film competition jury consisted of President Karim Bachir Traïdia (Algeria), Rania Attieh (Lebanon), Ahmed Hassan Ahmed (UAE), Felix van Groeningen (Netherlands) and Ahmed Magdy (Egypt).

Full list of winners are as follows:

EMIRATES FILM COMPETITION

Short Narrative Competition:

First Prize (AED 30,000): MURK LIGHT directed by Yassir Al Yassri (UAE)
Second Prize (AED 25,000): SMALLER THAN THE SKY directed by Abdullah Hassan Ahmed (UAE)
Special Jury Award (AED 25,000: THE JOURNEY directed by Hanna Makki (UAE)

Student Short Narrative Competition:

First Prize (AED 20,000): 3AIB directed by Hana Kazim (UAE)
Second Prize (AED 15,000): PATIENCE SALT directed by Mohammed Ibrahim (Bahrain)
Third Prize (AED 10,000): ALTERATION BUT directed by Hessa Al Shuwaihi and Reem Al Falahi (UAE)

Student Short Documentary Competition:

First Prize (AED 20,000): DREAMS IN THEIR EYES directed by Abeer Al Marzouqi, Khawla Al Maamari and Ayesha Al Amri (UAE)
Second Prize (AED 15,000): THE GAMBOO3A REVOLUTION directed by Abdulrahman Al Madani (UAE)
Third Prize (AED 10’000): EASY ON LOVE directed by Fatma Ibrahim Al Musharbik (UAE)
 
Best Emirati Film: DREAMS IN THEIR EYES directed by Abeer Al Marzouqi, Khawla Al Maamari and Ayesha Al Amri (UAE)

Best Cinematography: MURK LIGHT, cinematography by Stijn Van Der Veken
 
Best Script: SMALLER THAN THE SKY, screenplay by Mohammed Hassan Ahmed (UAE)
 
Special Mention: SAMAKA, directed by Michael Naguib (UAE); OSTORA, directed by Hani Kichi (UAE)
 
New York Film Academy Aspiring Filmmaker Award Candidates:

THE FINAL DIVISION, directed by Hana Kazim (UAE)
CHILDREN, directed by Mohammad Ahmed Fikree (UAE)
THE SETTLER, directed by Maram Ashour (UAE)
CATS, directed by Marwan Al Hammadi (UAE)
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, directed by Aisha Al Hammadi (UAE)
 
INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Best Narrative ($25,000) 9 VACCINES directed by Iair Said (Argentina)

Best Animation ($10,000) CAMELS directed by Park Jee-youn (South Korea); LINEAR directed by Amir Admoni (Brazil)

Best Film from the Arab World ($25,000) THE ISLAND – AL DJAZIRA directed by Amin Sidi-Boumédiene (Algeria)

Best Producer ($10,000) Till Nowak THE CENTRIFUGE BRAIN PROJECT (Germany)

Best Producer from the Arab World ($10,000) Yacine Bouaziz and Fayçal Hammoum THE ISLAND – AL DJAZIRA (Algeria)

Best Documentary ($25,000) THE HIDDEN SMILE directed by Ventura Durall (Spain)