FESTIVALS AWARDS EVENTS NEWS

Student showcase at Gulf Film Fest

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:49

A scene from the student film Pillar

The documentary short, Snapshot: A Trekking Man, which highlights Emirati trekker Jalal Bin Thaneya’s 2,000km journey on foot across challenging desert terrains over 51 days, will have its world premiere at the 5th Gulf Film Festival (GFF) in Dubai. It has been selected for the Official Gulf Student Competition.

GFF, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), will be held from 10 to 16 April at Dubai Festival City. Admission to all films is free.

The Saudi Arabian entry, directed by Tareq Aldakheelallah, portrays one day in the adventurous journey of the 25-year-old Bin Thaneya, who set out on the trek to raise funds for the Dubai Centre for Special Needs. Aldakheelallah joins Bin Thaneya for a day, walking beside him to learn more about what motivated the young man to undertake the arduous journey and to understand what keeps him going.

The Official Gulf Student Competition will also screen A Light Breeze, a Danish production that makes its UAE premiere at the festival. Directed by Rania M. Tawfik, it is an experimental multi-camera graduation documentary from the National Film School of Denmark. The award-winning director talks about happiness set against the backdrop of dancing. The film’s protagonist Sahar is preparing for a party but the girl, who believes that dancing makes her happy, realises that it is not always easy to pursue what makes one happy.

Also short-listed for the Student competition section is Moment, a UAE entry directed by Mohammed Ghanim Al Marri. The fiction short, which screened at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival, is the story of a young man who has lost hope in life, only to discover the secret of his happiness in a bird.

From Oman is the short fiction, Pillar, directed by Mohammed Al-Harthy and Shabib Al Habsi, which focuses on the life of a castle guard who hears voices from the top of the monument after visiting hours. In his quest to discover the source of the sound, he is haunted by personal memories.

The four student films provide the first glimpse into the Festival’s 5th year lineup. In its 2011 edition, the Gulf Film Festival screened 153 films from 31 nations in its official programme, including more than 110 from the Gulf nations, Iraq and Yemen.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, festival director, Gulf Film Festival, said: “The student competition of the Gulf Film Festival is always one of the most popular elements of our Festival. The concerns that young people have about the world they are living in and inheriting, the clarity and purity of their vision, and their creativity are well worth seeing. Our student films were well received last year by audiences and juries alike, and we’re looking forward to an equally dynamic competition this year.”

The Gulf Competition is open to filmmakers from the Arabian peninsula including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Yemen and Iraq, as well as filmmakers of other nationalities with films showcasing the region. The Gulf Student Competition is open to works from the region made or produced by students during their academic study, or as part of a college project.

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