The Dubai International Film Festival, which runs from December 9-16, has an impressive cast of international judges for this year’s Muhr awards juries.
Heading the Muhr Feature Competition jury is Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director and producer Deepa Mehta. Best known for her Elements trilogy, she has won more than 20 awards during a 40-year career.
She will be joined by award-winning Australian documentary filmmaker Tom Zubrycki; Egyptian Actor Khaled El Nabawy, whose roles in Hollywood include Kingdom of Heaven and Fair Game; and Emirati poet and filmmaker Nujoom Al-Ghanem, who has won three Muhr Awards at Diff.
The 2012 Winner of the IWC Filmmaker Award, Maysoon Alpachachi, also joins the jury. She has more than 30 years experience as an editor, producer, writer and director. Co-founder of the Independent Film & Television College in Baghdad, Alpachachi has helped foster filmmaking in the region, with eight films produced by the college’s students winning prizes at Arab and international film festivals.
The Muhr Short and Gulf Short jury will be led by Oscar-nominated Icelandic director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, founder of The Icelandic Film Corporation. Joining him will be Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa, whose debut, It Was Better Tomorrow, won the Muhr Arab Award for Best Director – Documentary in 2012, and Emirati director and producer Ali F Mostafa.
Leading the Muhr Emirati Competition jury is double Oscar-winning Danish producer Kim Magnusson. He is joined by Egyptian journalist Abdul Sattar Naji, who has been a juror at several festivals, including the Cannes Festival of TV and Documentaries, and Emirati TV director Dr Hessa Lootah, winner of this year’s UAE Pioneers Award.
cnewbould@thenational.ae