Palestinian film Omar bags two DIFF awards

Shaikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presents the Muhr Arab Feature award (Best film) to actor and producer Waleed Zuaiter for his film Omar during the Dubai International Film Festival on Friday. — AFP

Palestinian thrillerOmar, a tale of love, betrayal and struggle in the Israeli-occupied territories, on Friday scooped two top prizes at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

Omarwon the Diff awards in the best Arabic feature category and with Hany Abu Assad as best director of an Arabic feature.

The film had received a jury prize in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category at the Cannes festival.

It tells of a young Palestinian who dodges bullets to climb the separation wall built by Israel to see his girlfriend Nadia on the other side of their divided West Bank town.

The tale becomes complicated when Omar and his childhood friends, Amjad and Tarek, the brother of Nadia, launch an attack on Israeli forces. Omar is arrested and then faces a struggle between loyalty to his friends and love under blackmail by intelligence agent Rami, who arranged his release to use him as an informant.

Shaikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, son of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, presents actress Yasmine Raees the Muhr Arab Feature award (Best Actress) for her film Factory Girl during the Dubai International Film Festivalin Dubai on Friday. — AFP

A total of 174 films from 57 different countries, including over 100 films from the Arab world, competed for awards in the 10th edition of the DIFF, which opened on December 6 and ends on Saturday.

A special jury prize for Arab features went to Nabil Ayouch, producer ofThey are the Dogsfrom Morocco. The film’s Hassan Badida won the best Arab actor award. Yasmine Raees was best actress in an Arabic feature prize for her role in theFactory Girl.

The 2013 winners are:

Emirates NBD People’s Choice Award:

Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee for American film “Frozen” and Amal Al-Agroobi for “The Brain That Sings” (UAE)

FIPRESCI:

Short: Ahmed Yassin - “Children Of God” (Iraq, UK, Hungary)

Documentary: Zeina Daccache - “Scheherazade’s Diary” (Lebanon)

Feature: Mohammed Khan - “Factory Girl” (Egypt, UAE)

Emirates NBD People’s Choice Award:

Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee - “Frozen” (US)

Amal Al-Agroobi - “The Brain That Sings” (UAE)

Muhr Emirati:

Special Mention: Mohammad Fikree - “Girl & It” (UAE)

Best Director: Muna Al Ali - “Concealment” (UAE)

Special Jury Prize: Claudia Corbelli and Greg White - “The Neighbour” (UAE)

Best Film: Abdullah Hasan Ahmed and Khalid Al Mahmood - “Don’t Leave Me” (UAE)

Muhr AsiaAfrica:

Muhr AsiaAfrica Short:

Special Mention: Cédric Ido “Twaaga” (Burkina Faso, France)

Best Director: Sandeep Ray - “Thin Arms” (India)

Special Jury Prize: Halla Kim - “The Way Back” (South Korea)

Best Film: Askhat Kuchinchirekov “Gas Is Over” (Kazakhstan)

Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary:

Special Mention: Lynn Lee and James Leong - “Wukan: The Flame Of Democracy” (Singapore)

Best Director: Pin Pin Tan - “To Singapore With Love” (Singapore)

Special Jury Prize: Sara Rastegar - “My Red Shoes” (France)

Best Film: Yoshiko Hashimoto and Shigeki Kinoshita - “The Horses Of Fukushima” (Japan)

Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature:

Special Mention: Souleymane Démé for his role in “Grigris” (France, Chad)

Special Mention: Ritesh Batra for the screenplay of “The Lunchbox” (India)

Best Actress: Yeo Yann Yann - “Ilo Ilo” (Singapore)

Best Actor: Irrfan Khan - “The Lunchbox” (France, Germany, India)

Best Director: Tsai Ming Liang - “Stray Dogs” (Taiwan, France)

Muhr Arab Documentary:

Special Mention: Zeina Daccache - “Scheherazade’s Diary” (Lebanon)

Best Director: Salma El Tarzi - “Underground On The Surface” (Egypt)

Special Jury Prize: Diala Kachmar and Carole Abboud,Guardians - “Of Lost Time” (Lebanon, UAE)

Best Film: Karim Amer - “The Square” (US, Egypt)

Special Jury Prize: Sepehr Seifi - “Fish & Cat” (Iran)

Best Film: Ang Hwee Sim, Anthony Chen, Wahyuni A. Hadi,- “Ilo Ilo” (Singapore)

Muhr Arab Short:

Special Mention: Camille Salameh for his role in “Troubled Waters” (Lebanon)

Special Mention: Ahmed Yassin - “Children Of God” (Iraq, UK, Hungary)

Best Director: Ali Cherri - “The Disquiet” (Lebanon, France)

Special Jury Prize: Haider Rashid - “The Deep” (Iraq, Italy)

Best Film: Bavi Yassin, Nore Maatala - “The Lost Voice” (Belgium, Iraq)

Muhr Arab Feature:

Special Mention: Mohammed Amin Benamraoui - “Adios Carmen” (Morocco, Belgium, UAE)

Special Mention: Raouia for her roles in “Rock The Casbah” (Morocco, France) and “Pillow Secrets” (Morocco)

Best Actress: Yasmine Raees - “Factory Girl” (Egypt, UAE)

Best Actor: Hassan Badida - “They Are The Dogs” (Morocco)

Best Director: Hany Abu Assad - “Omar” (Palestine, UAE)

Special Jury Prize: Nabil Ayouch - “They Are The Dogs” (Morocco)

Best Film: Waleed Zuaiter - “Omar” (Palestine, UAE)

Also read: Palestinian director drives home the message

• UAE