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Winners for Hayah Film competition announced

ABU DHABI — The winners for the Hayah Film competition, part of the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) were announced on Thursday at the Emirates Palace here.

The competition was designed for very short films, shot on an iPod format. Over 100 entries were received for this competition, which was opened to everyone in the Middle East.

According to Magnus Nystedt, founder of Hayah competition and president of the Emirates Mac Apple User Group (EMAUG), the iPod filmmakers came up with quite varied ideas and judging was not an easy task.

“From religious to profound to the funny and light-hearted, each entry made us think, made us laugh or even moved us close to tears,” said Nystedt.

The panel of judges included Dr Brad Cook, director of Abu Dhabi Women’s College, Omran Al Owais, vice-president of EMAUG and Jon Fitzgerald, director of MEIFF. The four winners they chose are Fatima Al Shamsi for ‘Ramadan’, Fatima Al Muhairi for ‘Seastar’, both in the student category; Kamil Roxas for ‘Celebrate Life’, in the amateur category; Ziad Oakes for ‘For No One’, in the professional category.

Each of these winners will receive a cash prize of $5,000 and an iPod. John Sammon, director of New York Film Academy in Abu Dhabi, which will be opened here early next year, also made a surprise announcement, by offering each of the five winners a scholarship for the one-year long film-making course at the academy. “I was impressed by Hayah competitors and I hope they continue to study and make films,” said Sammon during the ceremony.