Participation is open until September 23, with the three best films receiving cash rewards.
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has launched the Al Marmoom short-film competition, inviting filmmakers to submit their works and present them to a global audience as part of the second edition of the Al Marmoom: Film in the Desert festival, scheduled to be held in December.
This competition aims to attract talented filmmakers and provide a platform for them to develop their skills.
Speaking about the film festival, Shaikh Maktoum bin Marwan Al Maktoum, Project Manager of Al Marmoom Festival, said: “Based on our vision of consolidating the emirate’s position as a global centre for culture, an incubator for creativity and a thriving hub for talent, we are working at Dubai Culture according to a clear methodology that seeks to enhance the emirate’s cultural scene and advance its cultural and creative industries by supporting talents and innovators and providing an incubating environment for them, which contributes to making Dubai a global capital of the creative economy.”
Shamma Yahya Alzaffin, Project Manager of Al Marmoom Festival, added: “We are pleased to launch this competition to discover talented filmmakers and nurture and support them on their journey to become professional pioneers in the field locally, regionally and globally. We look forward to nurturing the creative talents into the filmmaking sector and offering an enabler platform in Dubai and the UAE for them to grow.”
Participation in the competition is open to anyone from the Arab world 15 years and over. Entries are to be submitted through the link specified for the competition on the website before September 23. Participating works will be evaluated and the winning films selected by a committee judging the competition, which will include eminent experts in this field. The winner will be rewarded and their films screened during the Al Marmoom: Film in the Desert festival that will be taking place in December.
To take part, participants must submit original short films (under 30 minutes) that were never screened before. They must own the full rights to their films, whose genres could be one of three categories: live-action, animation, or documentary. The type of media or camera used, including smart devices, is acceptable.
The first-place winner will receive a cash prize of AED 50,000 ($13612.48), the second-place winner will receive a cash prize of AED 25,000 ($6806.24), while the third-place winner will receive a prize of AED 15,000 ($4083.74). Each of them will also receive a commemorative shield.
