The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced the line-up of shortlisted documentaries for Muhr Arab Documentary Award, which will recognise the Best Film, Special Jury Prize and Best Director for the years freshest and most daring Arab documentaries. Established in 2006, the Muhr Arab Awards reward innovation and artistry in Arab cinema, nurturing talent […]
The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced the line-up of shortlisted documentaries for Muhr Arab Documentary Award, which will recognise the Best Film, Special Jury Prize and Best Director for the years freshest and most daring Arab documentaries.
Established in 2006, the Muhr Arab Awards reward innovation and artistry in Arab cinema, nurturing talent and promoting new stories on the festivals in
ternational platform.
This years field proves without a doubt that creative documentary the use of personal perspectives and experimental techniques to tell a non-fiction story has taken hold in the Arab world, said DIFFs Artistic Director, Masoud Amralla Al Ali.
He continued: Documentary has always been strong in the region, but we are now seeing an artistic freedom and poetic sensibility that brings another dimension to the way the region is portrayed. This years documentaries reflect the ethos of change currently rocking the Arab world. The stories are giant, sweeping political stories told in the intimate detail of the lives of individuals living through events that have changed the face of the region over the past decades. Documentary is the ideal tool to uncover the lives affected by grand historical narratives, and this years Muhr Arab field is packed with vivid testimony that the personal truly is political.
The shortlisted entries are as follows:
Birds of September
My Love Awaits Me by the Sea
My Name is Mostafa Khamis
Searching for Saris
Scheherazades Diary
Underground on the Surface
The Mulberry House
The Square
Waves
War Reporter
Bloody Beans
Heritages
The River
Walls and People
Guardians of Time Lost
Erfan Rashid, Director of the Arabic Programme added: The line-up of 15 documentaries in competition this year are powerful and hard-hitting that showcase an impressive range of storytelling from talented filmmakers. The common theme is of course the wider revolutions that have engulfed the Arab world over the last year and will put many of these works on the map. The Muhr competition continues to be innovative, exciting and audiences will see situations unfolding from a unique perspective.
