A Bahraini filmmaker has won a national award for a production depicting the plight of domestic workers struggling to make ends meet.

Mahdi Rafee, 25, received BD6,000 ($15,801.9) for his film, ‘Mariya’, during the Bahrain Awareness Award, which was held last night at the at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain, Hotel and Spa under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

It was organised by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) and attended by Deputy Premier Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, government officials and diplomats.

Twenty-three movies and artworks were short-listed for this year’s award, held under the slogan ‘Human Too’.

They included 15 short films and eight posters – four graphic designs and four sketches and paintings – depicting various aspects of domestic workers’ lives in the country.

Bahraini Sanaallah Mohammed Ali, 24, won second place and a BD4,000 cash prize for his film Shades, which compares the way two families treat their domestic workers.

Other winners at last night’s award ceremony were 20-year-old Bahraini Omar Farooq who took home BD3,000 for his film Housemaid, followed by Bahrainis Zainab Al Haddad and Isa Hejres, aged 24 and 19 respectively, for their joint work, called ‘Suffering of a Worker’. They came in fourth place and won BD2,000.

Nineteen-year-old Bahraini Ahmed Ali also received a BD1,000 cash prize for his film, ‘This Is My Right.’

In the other category, 25-year-old Sayed Alawi Hashim was awarded BD3,000 for his poster entitled ‘That Day,’ which illustrates a housemaid waiting for her salary as she crosses off days on a calendar.

Bahraini Khalid Janahi, 25, came in second for his graphic-picture, entitled ‘Countless Giving,’ and was presented with BD2,000.

“We believe that if we raise awareness amongst society and encourage humanitarian practices then it has to come from young individuals who in the near future will have their own homes and need to set an example for others to pursue,” said LMRA chief executive Ausamah Al Absi.

“The struggle of domestic workers is just one concept and there are other ideas, which we will discuss with our judging panel, before opening the second edition and even planning for the third.

“We are already raising awareness in the countries of origin before domestic workers come here and our target, as in this year’s campaign, is to spread the message across local families.”

Al Absi said this year’s works were seen by 750,000 people on social media, with 59 per cent of the viewers from other GCC countries.

“For this we have decided to allow GCC nationals and even expatriates living within neighbouring Gulf countries to take part in the second edition, which will begin next autumn,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service