Dubai, United Arab Emirates | 17 December 2019: The Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication (MBRSC) at the American University in Dubai (AUD), in partnership with MBC Group and Creative Communities Collaborative (CCC), is thrilled to announce this year’s winners of the Original Narrative Short Film Festival.
As part of the fifth edition of the Original Narrative Short Film Festival, hosted and organised by the Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication at AUD, the judging panel deliberated over 36 film entries selected from hundreds of documentary and feature film submissions from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Lebanon.
“We are very proud of this year’s edition for two reasons, the fact that we geared the whole festival towards the Arab youth and the stories they choose to tell, and the rich forum sessions that were enjoyed by both invited filmmakers and the 100 Arab university students who came specially for the festival.”
Sophie Boutros Festival Chair and Director.
The winners of the Hope award received a trophy and cash prize of AED 10,000 each, followed by AED 6,000 for second prize and AED 4,000 for third prize.
The winners are as follows:
The Hope Award Fiction: What’s Your Name By Nour Al-Moujabber
Second Prize Fiction: Youssef By Fadi Saghbiny
Third Prize: Before The Dawn By Hagar Abdulbari
Special Mention Fiction: Lamya Khonda By Khaled El Rayes
The Hope Award Documentary: As You Can See By Ghada Fikri
Second Prize Documentary: Ziad The Second By Sacha Mourad
Third Prize Documentary: Darks Cells By Maria Charbel
Special Mention Documentary: To The Moon And Back By Nada Amr
The Hope Award Special Category: My Game By Mostafa Khaled
The festival included a special category of films produced by the refugees in Lebanon, and managed by Dar Al Mussawir; The Hope Award Special Category went to My Game By Mostafa Khaled.
This year’s festival hosted a special educational forum that featured talks by renowned names from the world of film and TV in both Hollywood and the Arab world. Guest appearances included film writer and producer best-known for his hit series, ‘Narcos’, Chris Brancato, primetime drama producer and writer, Chris Keyser, and screenwriter and producer, David Isaacs. Also joining the stellar line up was screenwriter, producer and award-winning director, Dara Resnik, television and film producer and writer, John Altschuler, producer Jason Newman, and executive director of MBC Studios, Peter Smith.