Abu Dhabi, UAE: The UAE has been busy growing its film festivals and supporting both local and international film productions to document the spectacular progress made in a country where filmmaking is still so young.
Hundreds of films from different countries are now ready to compete at the Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF) in its fifth edition, Zayed University ( ZU ) announced recently.
The festival, which will start in May 6, was a graduation project initiated by two students in 2010, to showcase cinematographic works for students and encourage young filmmakers in the region.
The university has approached schools and universities across the UAE to ensure diverse and large student participation, which has reached 125 students from 18 countries.
"The process of sieving through the films and grading them has been overwhelming. There are a lot of talented Arab directors out there and it is a privilege to shed a light on them. This year, the festival has also accepted submission from students, who are studying abroad," Faisal Saleh Al Za’abi, the head of the film organising committee, said.
The festival will award winners in five categories: best of best, best narrative, best documentary, honorable mentions, and ZUMEFF New York film academy aspiring filmmaker award.
"I am very pleased and happy that we received more than 100 film submissions this year. It makes me especially proud, that we even got some submissions from Arab students in the US, Germany, Italy, Canada and England. It is good to see, that ZUMEFF is now firmly embedded in the film festival scene," Sascha Ritter, assistant professor in communication and media sciences college at ZU , said.
Films, scripts, storyboards, and posters will be archived in the National Film Archive at ZU for future generations of filmmakers, students and researchers, who want to conduct research or even learn moreabout the development of Emirati cinema.
The archive is the first in the gulf and one of the few in the entire Middle East region.
"Since the film industry in the UAE is still in its early stages, it is critical that we act now to make sure that we do not lose any of the important parts of the local film community’s development," David Oldenkamp, assistant professor, instruction and reference librarian at ZU , told Gulf News.
"One of the main functions of the national library is to collect, document and preserve the Emirati culture record and this extends beyond books, newspapers, government publications and includes things like feature and documentary films," he said.
"No archive or library is ever complete; however, we are excited to continue our work to collect, document, and preserve the historical and future film productions of the UAE," David added.
In 2013, the festival screened over 40 films from 20 universities and different 8 countries.
© Gulf News
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