This year's jury includes a diverse group of accomplished artists, film directors and social media influencers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Japan, France, Canada, UK and Syria.
The Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFF) has announced an 18-member jury for its 2019 edition. Featuring accomplished Arab and international artists and film experts, the jury will evaluate entries in SIFF’s seven competition categories: Child and Youth Made Film, Student’s Films, GCC + UAE Short Films, International Short Films, Animation Films, Documentary Films and Long Feature Films.
The festival is organised by FUNN – the Sharjah-based organisation that promotes media arts learning among children and youth, and will be hosting its seventh edition from 13 – 18 October at the Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre (JRCC) in Sharjah.
This year’s jury comprises a diverse group of accomplished artists, film directors and social media influencers from 10 countries, namely, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Japan, France, Canada, UK and Syria.
The evaluation criteria will include assessing the film’s idea, objectives, implementation standards, creativity and innovation, presentation, techniques and organisation. The jury is truly global this year and has brought together a group of seasoned specialists in the children’s and youth films genres.
Saudi director, Ahmed Al Shayeb, who has to his credit several short documentaries; Emirati actor, short filmmaker and author, Yaser Alneyadi; and filmmaker and YouTuber from Bahrain, Omar Farooq, will be evaluating entries in the student’s films category.
The GCC + UAE short films’ category’s jury comprises award-winning actor from Saudi Arabia, Abdulmohsen Al Nemer; Emirati actor-director, Abdullah Al Junaibi, who won Best Director at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival in 2017; and popular Kuwaiti actors, comedian and director Abdul Rahman El Aqel. Aqel’s theatre performances are hugely popular in GCC and Arab regions.
Within the international short films category, Michiko Tachimotom from Japan, president of a multimedia plan for children colobockle; film critic, Khalid Rabai, who has been working in the fields of cultural journalism and film critique since 1991; and Nawaf Alshobaili, author and actor from Saudi Arabia who is famed for his roles in Wasati and Will Somyati Go to Hell? will judge. Syrian actor, Bassel Khayat will also bring his experience from both silver and small screens to the jury.
In the animation films category, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, a Kuwaiti clinical psychologist and award-winning writer; Mohammad Fikree, an Emirati filmmaker and music composer; and Carlos De Carvalho, artist, graphic designer and award-winning short films maker from France will be evaluating entries.
Jurors responsible for submissions in the documentary films category include award-winning Egyptian journalist, film critic and professor of Media Criticism in Cairo University, Tarek Elshenawy; Nadir Nahdi from UK, founder of BENI, a YouTube channel highlighting young people from diverse backgrounds; and Julian Carrington, the Distribution Manager at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Yousry Nasrallah, an Egyptian filmmaker and film critic; and Nahla Al Fahad, Emirati director & executive producer touted as one of MENA region’s leading documentary makers, will come together to decide the winner of the feature films category.
