ADFF and Masdar introduce green award

The Abu Dhabi Film Festival has announced that the renewable energy company Masdar will be the official partner of the festival’s programme for films on significant environmental issues. ADFF, which runs from 13-22 October, 2011 has also announced that the programme, presented for the past two years under the name What in the World are We Doing to Our World, has been given a new name, Our World, and will now be competitive, with an award of US$15,000.

The Our World award will go to the film with the highest potential to broaden public awareness of significant environmental issues. A jury consisting of students from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), which celebrated its first graduating class this year, as well as leading local environmental figures, will select the winner from among the films in the section. The winner will be announced at the ADFF awards ceremony on October 21 along with the winners of the festival’s other competitions.

Speaking about the new development, Dr Nawal Al-Hosany, associate director, Corporate Sustainability commented:

“Masdar is pleased to again partner with the Abu Dhabi Film Festival for the Our World environmental film category, which we hope will continue to help raise awareness of the importance of sustainability, both in the UAE and beyond. It is vital that we, as individuals, feel a sense of empowerment by taking actions that reduce our impact on the environment. This only comes with a clear understanding of how we are affecting our planet and we hope the films showcased within this category will assist in strengthening this understanding.”

Masdar and ADFF are actively working together on a range of other sustainability initiatives. In the run-up to the 2011 festival, Masdar is helping ADFF in going green by carrying out an environmental analysis of its operations and assisting the festival in offsetting carbon emissions.