A female Saudi filmmaker won an award for best drama at the Saudi Film Festival, the chief juror said Wednesday, hailing a higher quality of entries this year.

The five-day festival was only the second in seven years, and aired films at an arts and cultural center in the Gulf coast city of Dammam.

At the awards ceremony on Tuesday night, Hana Al-Omair took the Golden Palm Tree prize for her drama “Complain,” said Abdullah Al-Eyaf, the head of the festival jury.

Eyaf, himself a prize-winning film-maker, said Saudi Arabia itself has emerged a winner “for having all this talent.”

Al-Omair’s film tells the story of a hospital worker who lodges a complaint against a colleague, an act symbolising everything wrong in her life.

Another woman, Shahad Ameen, won second prize in the drama category for “Eye & Mermaid,” a fantasy about a girl who discovers her father has tortured a mermaid to extract beautiful black pearls. Mohanna Abdullah took third place for his film “Adam’s Ant,” the story of a prisoner who tries to befriend an ant in his cell.

Organizers said they hoped the festival would open eyes in Saudi Arabia to the possibilities of film despite objections from some people that cinema would “Westernize” the Kingdom or corrupt its morals.

In 2013 the film “Wadjda,” by Saudi female film-maker Haifaa Al-Mansour, became the country’s first to be listed as a candidate for a foreign-language Oscar, although it did not make the final shortlist.

At this year’s Saudi Film Festival, the Golden Palm Tree for best documentary went to Faisal Al-Otaibi for “Grand Marriage.” It recounts a two-week wedding ceremony taking place in the archipelago nation of the Comoros.

In the student category, Mohammed Al-Faraj also earned one of the golden stylized palm tree trophies for “Lost,” a documentary about stateless people living in Saudi Arabia.

Abbas Al-Hayek took top prize for best unproduced script.

Eyaf and his jury selected the winning productions from among more than 60 entrants.

Earlier, many Saudi prominent art figures, like the novelist Mohammed Al-Bashir, expressed great pleasure to see the large number of participants at film festivals over the past seven years. Talking to local media, Al-Bashir pointed out his satisfaction with the films screened during the festival.

However, Ali Al-Hussein, one of the youngest directors taking part in the festival, Ali said there is still plenty of room for improvement. According to the young filmmaker, more film academies are needed to train and educate those interested in the industry.

Apart from screening films, the festival also included workshops on scriptwriting, music and directing, and talks by industry figures from around the region.

More than 60 short films competed for “Golden Palm Tree” trophies. The festival received more than 120 film submissions, of which around 66 met the requirements to be shown, including that they be less than 59 minutes long and cannot have been shown on YouTube or on television.