This year, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival will once again include the Emirates Film Competition (EFC) in its schedule.
The EFC will see 39 Emirati films being screened, with nine others also being shown, but not entered for the contest.
The competition, which aims to provide emerging directors a platform to showcase their short films aims, is directed by Saleh Karama Al Ameri, the renowned Emirati filmmaker and writer.
He said: “The competition line-up this year mirrors the variety of short films produced in the region and highlights how strong local filmmakers are.
“Two of the films featured in EFC are also competing in the International Short Film Competition, showing that films produced in the region can compete on an international level.”
These two movies are Feeding Five Hundred, directed by the Emirati Rafed Al Harthi, and Streetcar, by Hala Matar from Bahrain.
Feeding Five Hundred tells of a man who spends is fortune to feed stray cats, has already been screened at international film festivals. Meanwhile Streetcar is a tragic love story that features star actress Chloë Sevigny.
Ali Al Jabri, director of Abu Dhabi Film Festival, said: “The Abu Dhabi Film Festival is not only about bringing the best of international cinema to the UAE, it’s about showing the world the best of Emirati cinema.
"The entrants in this year’s Emirates Film Competition have most certainly earned their place on the international stage. At the same time we are seeing a growing number of UAE co-productions.
“It is often at festivals that international collaborators meet, and encounter one another’s work, and that is an important part of a Film Festival contribution to building a cinema culture.”
Other films to watch out include UAE-produced musical Freshman, the Syrian conflict-based drama My Pink Room, the animated film Daddy ABC, and Something About Maids, which documents the lives of domestic workers in the UAE.
Read The National's Arts&Life section on Wednesday for Saeed Saeed's interview with three young Emirati filmmakers whose projects are screening at the festival as part of the EFC.
