The third edition of the Gulf Film Festival, which concluded yesterday (April 14) in Dubai, has awarded the winners of the student and official competitions and Emirati short film script competition.

The Gulf Film Festival, supported by Dubai Culture and held in association with Dubai Studio City, screened 194 films from 41 countries this year.

Entry was free for the public and 94 screenings, some of them featuring a collection of shorts and documentaries, were held over the past six days.

The in-competition sections of Gulf Film Festival offered in all a prize bag of Dh485,000 ($132,000) to professionals, students and Emirati script-writers.

Entries in the official competition were invited in three categories: feature films, short films, and documentaries. Students compete in short films and documentaries only.

In all 54 films competed in the official competition for best feature (7), documentary (9) and shorts (38). The student competition featured 33 entries for the best documentary (12) and shorts (21).

The film jury was headed by accomplished Moroccan filmmaker Jillali Ferhati.

He was joined by Saudi Arabian filmmaker and critic Mohammed Aldhahri; Emirati actor Ibrahim Salim; Yemeni filmmaker Khadija Al-Salami and artistic director of the International Film Festival Matthieu Darras.

The jury for the script competition comprised Qatari scriptwriter Widad Al Kuwairi, Saudi columnist Badriya Abdullah Al Bashar and UAE writer Amina Abu-Shehab.

Iraqi actor and playwright Khalil Shawki, Emirati actress Raziqa Al Tareshand and Kuwaiti actress Hayat Al Fahad received the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the opening ceremony of the festival. – TradeArabia News Service