Al Ain Film Festival is back for its third edition this January
5 days, 378 films and 4 new initiatives…
Al Ain Film Festival has just announced the launch of the third edition of Al Ain Film Festival. Held under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan member of the Executive Council, the festival will run from January 23 to 27. It will take place in Al Ain.
The slogan for this year is ‘Future Cinema’ and will feature 378 films and 4 new initiatives over the five days.
The film festival has also implemented new initiatives, various programs and distinctive shows to its line-up with a focus on discovering, celebrating and presenting the best productions and talents of cinema in the region from prominent filmmakers to fresh young talents.
According to the festival’s Founder and Director, Amer Salmeen Al Murry, distinctive European films which have seen success in Europe and other film festivals around the world will be displayed during the Al Ain Film Festival.
More films will be screened over the weekends during the festival’s summer program, with each week dedicated to a specific European country. Workshops will also be held by filmmakers during this time.
Al Murry also revealed a Fareed Ramadhan Award, a new and distinctive award that will be presented to the best screenplay. The aim is to encourage scriptwriters and to honour the spirit of the late Bahraini writer and screenwriter, Fareed Ramadhan, who was a prominent presence in the first and second edition of the Al Ain Film Festival. His writings have enriched Bahraini and Gulf cinema in general.
In addition to this, Al Ain Film Festival will also collaborate with Abu Dhabi Festival and announced a new competition called ‘Abu Dhabi Festival Unproduced Screenplay’. The competition targets young Emirati scriptwriters that can enrich local content with fresh unique topics presented to the cinema.
The best three unproduced short films will win Dhs20,000 each. Winners will be picked by a special jury consisting of a group of Arab filmmakers and scriptwriters and will be disclosed in June 2021.
For more information, visit the Al Ain Film Festival official website.
Featured image: You Will Die at 20 film still