There were celebrations among the UAE contingent at this year's Berlinale Film Festival when Zinzana director Majid Al Ansari picked up Variety's award for Middle East Filmmaker of the Year.
The award puts Al Ansari in exalted company — previous winner, Theeb director Naji Abu Nowar, is currently in the running for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, having been presented the award at 2014's Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and director Nowar, alongside producer Rupert Lloyd, also picked up the Outstanding Debut Award at this year's BAFTAs.
Al Mansari said: "There were so many amazing films and so much amazing talent this year. The last film to win was Theeb, and I'm just thrilled to be up there. It was amazing to see my film premiere at Diff and to see all the local support and the feedback has been great. Inshallah we'll soon have details of an online release too, we should have some big news soon, so we'll let you know when we can tell you more on that."
The UAE is represented at Berlinale this year by representatives from organisations including Image Nation Abu Dhabi, twofour54 and the Dubai International Film Festival, and the team also held a private event at the weekend to launch the #supportarabcinema campaign, raising awareness of locally produced movies through social media.
cnewbould@thenational.ae