The eighth edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) has received more than 1,760 entries from 106 nations.

Of those, more than 1,000 short films, documentaries and feature films were entered in the festival’s flagship Muhr Emirati, Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica competitions.

The remaining were entries for Diff’s multiple out of competition segments. Entries from India dominate the list at 160, followed by France (109), Iran (106), Egypt (91), US (87), UAE (71) and Lebanon (58), said a statement.

Germany, South Korea and Palestine are also well represented, with more than 45 submissions each, a statement from the organisers said.

The festival also received multiple entries from Syria and Libya, as well as a large selection of cinema that reflects the Arab Spring, captured by filmmakers in Tunisia and Egypt.

Films shortlisted for the Muhr competitions will vie for over 36 awards and more than $600,000 in prize money, in addition to valuable industry connections, the statement said.

They will also be eligible for a variety of prestigious global awards including the Fipresci International Prize of the Critics Award, the Human Rights Film Network Award and the People’s Choice Award.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, artistic director, Diff, said: “The Muhr Awards underline Diff’s mandate to promote the growing pool of cinema talent in the Arab world, near Asia and Africa. The strong response to our call for entries highlights the growing global interest in the festival’s ability to open doors for filmmakers to a global audience. Over the past years, Muhr Award winners have gone on to win international recognition, contributing to a surge in Arab, African and near Asian filmmaking.”

The Diff programming team has started selecting films from the overall submissions; the final programme will be announced in the coming weeks, it said.

Diff is held in association with Dubai Studio City. Dubai Duty Free, Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai Pearl, Emirates Airline and Madinat Jumeirah, are the principal sponsors.

The festival is supported by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.  - TradeArabia News Service