DUBAI, 16 May 2007 — Officials from the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) announced yesterday that the second annual Muhr Awards for excellence in Arab Cinema is accepting submissions until Aug. 31.
As part of the festival’s mandate of promoting Arab cinema, winners in three categories — feature films, shorts and documentaries — will receive prizes that amount to over AED 1 million.
Competing films must be made by a director of Arab nationality or origin, and the subject and storyline of the film must deal with the Arab world and/or Arab history or culture. The films must have been produced after Sept. 1, 2006, without having been released commercially in the UAE before Dec. 17, 2007, or having been shown on any television channel or streamed via the internet to any public audience.
A top judging panel from the international and Arab film community will review submissions, and shortlist ten films in each of the three categories. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Nov. 15, 2007.